Impact Wrestling
Date: December 22, 2015
Hosts: Josh Matthews, D’Angelo Dinero

This is a special episode as the company is debuting on Pop TV with the first half of the Best of 2015. Therefore we’ll be looking at a bunch of matches from earlier in the year and probably previewing the final four of the World Title tournament just a bit more. These shows usually fly by so let’s get to it.

Note that these matches may be clipped in the broadcast but I’ll be copying and pasting the full versions of the matches.

We open with a quick package on the year as a whole.

Josh and Pope welcome us to the show and send us back to the beginning of the year in New York City. You remember New York. It’s the town where TNA said it was tough to sell out the same 2,000 seat arena three days in a row before WWE sold out a 14,000 seat arena three nights in a row in the same city later that year. A huge brawl broke out to begin the show until boss Kurt Angle broke it up.

Clips of Roode vs. Lashley III with Lashley winning the title back.

Clips of Lashley joining and then leaving the Beat Down Clan, leading to a fight with MVP on the streets of New York. The rest of the Beat Down Clan helped take Lashley out until Angle and Roode made the save.

Lashley became the big free agent going into Lethal Lockdown.

Before we get to that, we look at the opening of the last two Feast or Fired briefcases, which saw Robbie E. sneak around being fired by getting Velvet Sky fired instead.

Clips of Lethal Lockdown.

From March 13.

Eric Young vs. Bobby Roode

Last man standing. It’s a big brawl to start with Roode getting the better of it and knocking Young out to the floor for three. The fans want tables but stop to tell Young that he sold out. He also sucks but they don’t tell him that for some reason. Young punches Bobby in the mouth a few times, only to be backdropped on the aisle. Roode charges up the ramp for a clothesline and the announcers keep mentioning Roode turning his back on Young. It’s table time (hopefully it shuts them up for a bit) but we take a break before anyone goes through it.

Back with Young putting Roode down with a running neckbreaker and dropping knees to the chest. Another neckbreaker on the floor gets seven so Young whips Bobby into the steps to put him down again. Roode backdrops out of a piledriver on the steps and uses a cameraman to get to his feet. Both guys get chairs and it’s time for a duel, followed by a double clothesline to put them both on the floor.

They make it up and back in at nine with Roode getting all fired up first. Right hands don’t get Roode very far though as Young catches him with a piledriver for another nine. Some chairs to the ribs have Roode reeling but Young picks him up, only to get piledriven onto the chair. That’s still not enough so Roode loads up the Roode Bomb, only to have Young escape and both guys head to the apron. A Roode Bomb through the table is enough to put Young away at 19:38.

Rating: B. It was violent, it was intense, and I have no idea why they’re fighting. I thought about it for a bit and remembered it, only to realize I don’t care at this point. TNA knows how to set up a first brawl, but it takes them forever to get to the blowoff and by that point, the interest isn’t there anymore. Good brawl, but this really needs to end things between them.

Quick look at Awesome Kong vs. Havok in a cage.

Also from Lockdown, Jeff Hardy is injured by the Revolution, meaning he can’t go on the European tour. You would think someone would catch on to that happening every single year.

Clips of Jeff Hardy vs. James Storm on March 27.

Clips of the Wolves vs. the Revolution in Ultimate X on March 20.

We look at Ethan Carter III shaving Jeremy Borash’s head.

Package on Carter vs. Rockstar Spud, including clips of their First Blood match and Carter shaving Spud’s head.

Video on the Rising vs. Drew Galloway.

From March 20 in London.

TNA World Title: Kurt Angle vs. Bobby Lashley

Lashley is defending. We get the old school long walks through the back to the ring to really make this feel like a big deal. After the big match intros we’re ready to go with nearly twenty five minutes for this match. The fans are behind Angle but Lashley throws him into the corner with ease. A big clothesline puts Angle down again as it’s all champ so far. Kurt goes back to basics with rolling Germans and sends Lashley to the floor, but the champ takes over again with pure power.

Back in and Lashley pounds him down in the corner before starting in on the arm and shoulder. Kurt fights up and escapes, setting up a middle rope shoulder to drop Lashley. It’s time to roll some Germans and Lashley is in trouble. Kurt lets go but snaps off five more Germans before taking down the straps. The ankle lock is countered and Lashley nails the powerslam for two as we take a break.

Back with Lashley going shoulder first into the post and getting caught in the ankle lock again. Lashley rolls through but charges into a boot, setting up the Angle Slam for two. Now the spear connects for two but Lashley takes way too much time going up, allowing Angle to avoid a splash. This time it’s Kurt going up for a high cross body but Lashley rolls through into an ankle lock of his own. Kurt grabs the rope and hits another Angle Slam only to get caught in a cross armbreaker. That gets turned over into another ankle lock with the grapevine and Lashley taps at 20:18.

Rating: B+. It’s really good but it’s clear that Angle just doesn’t have the same reserves he used to. I’m ok with the title win as it feels more like one last reign for Angle instead of making him the long term top guy again. Angle more than deserves a reign like that and if he puts over a young star (which he likely will), this is fine. Lashley looks good in a loss, but the match didn’t hit the levels of epic they were hoping for. Still though, really good stuff.

We look at the Wolves having to vacate the Tag Team Titles. These clips are all over the place with little to no reason for going from one to another.

As a followup, here’s the ending to Ultimate X from April 17 with the Hardys winning their first TNA Tag Team Titles.

Then Jeff broke his leg, forcing them to vacate the titles and possibly putting him him out of action for over a year due to knee problems.

Here’s part of Kurt Angle defending the World Title against Eric Young in an I Quit match.

Now it’s on to Ethan Carter’s push towards the World Title, meaning we see his feud with Mr. Anderson.

We look at Destination X with Kurt Angle defending against Rockstar Spud and Austin Aries.

Time for the Knockouts as we look at Taryn Terrell winning the title and then defending against Awesome Kong in a hardcore match with the help of the Dollhouse. Taryn turned heel after the match.

Video on the Dollhouse and their path of destruction through the Knockouts division.

Jeff and Karen Jarrett came back in a big surprise.

We wrap it up with two minutes out of the twenty minute match where Carter won the title.

Overall Rating: D. I’m really not sure what to say about this. It was some cross between a Best of and a WAY too packed together retrospective as they flew through the first half of the year. I could barely keep track of when these things were happening and there was almost no structure or order to this whole thing. As usual, TNA goes from one extreme to the other as they take things way too slow or put in so much stuff that you can’t keep track of a thing.

This was just all over the place and I really have no idea what I was supposed to pick up from it. A lot of stuff happens here but we’re not sure if it makes sense? That’s their message? If you didn’t watch TNA regularly, this probably confused you a lot more than made you want to watch, but that’s TNA in a nutshell: don’t worry about the substance because we can just confuse them into watching. Part two will mainly be the GFW Invasion and the tournament, meaning a bunch of stuff that has little to do with what’s coming in the new year. Same TNA as always.

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Impact Wrestling
Date: May 1, 2015
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Al Snow

This is another special episode with Hardcore Justice, which was a One Night Only special in early April. Hopefully this is a bit of a better card as that show was just a step above a nightmare. Kurt Angle is scheduled to defend the World Title against Eric Young, but that was the case last week as well. Let’s get to it.

The opening video talks about making things hardcore tonight.

Davey Richards/Hardys vs. Revolution

Street fight with Khoya/Manik/Abyss here and the fight starts in the aisle before we have time for entrances. Davey hits a nice delayed vertical suplex on Manik but Khoya is laying waste to Jeff on the floor with a trashcan lid. Poetry in Motion hits Manik and Abyss takes one as well but with a chair as a bonus. A Twist of Fate looks to set up the Swanton on Abyss but Manik makes a save. Khoya muscles Jeff off the top for a slam and pounds away as this is still all over the place. Matt cleans house with a chair and some trashcan shots until Manik takes him down with another trashcan.

Back in and a big Tower of Doom leaves only Abyss standing but Davey flips out of a chokeslam attempt and nails Creeping Death to send Abyss outside. Khoya joins his partner and gets taken down by Davey’s suicide dive. Jeff dives as well, leaving Matt to hit the Side Effect on Manik. Davey hits a top rope double stomp for two but Abyss makes the save with a chokeslam. We get Abyss’ old crotching himself on a chair spot, setting up the Twist and Swanton for the pin for Jeff at 9:43.

Rating: C+. Well that was fun. There’s no sarcasm there as these guys kept it moving for nearly ten minutes and just beat each other up. The built in story of the Revolution destroying Eddie Edwards and Jeff gave the match a purpose and the brawling held up. Good opener here.

James Storm comes out and tells Abyss that he’s failed once too often.

Mr. Anderson liked interrupting EC3 last week and has a campaign sign of his own for tonight.

Package on Billy Corgan coming to TNA. This could be good, but it could also be a disaster.

Here’s Mr. Anderson wearing a tie and behind a podium. He doesn’t care about campaign promises, but he does want to see Ethan Carter III getting a whipping. This brings out Carter with Tyrus holding a campaign sign. Fans: “YOU CAN’T WRESTLE!” Anderson: “They think you can’t wrestle.”

Anderson says that if Carter wants the title, then he needs to come take it. Carter mentions being undefeated and that gets Anderson to his point. He unveils his own sign, which says Mr. Anderson to beat the streak. That sounds like a step beneath conquering but close enough. Anderson wants a match on the live show May 8 (first mention of the match being live) but thinks we should let the fans vote. The match is on without any voting but Carter warns Anderson to tread lightly. This election gimmick is money.

X-Division Title: Kenny King vs. Mandrews vs. Tigre Uno vs. Rockstar Spud

Spud, who has injured ribs coming in, is defending in this ladder match. Everyone busts out the dives to start with Mandrews topping them all with a huge shooting star press to take out King and Uno. King makes a quick save as Spud is still down on the floor. Tigre catapults the ladder into Mandrews and King, only to have Spud shove the ladder over for the save. King nails Spud in the bad ribs but walks into a tornado DDT off the ladder. Tigre plants Mandrews with a kind of reverse Samoan drop, only to have Spud shoves him off the top.

King goes back to the bad ribs with a hard ladder shot to the bandages until Mandrews knocks Kenny to the floor. It’s Uno with the save this time as he takes Mandrews down with a C4 off the ladder. Spud wins a slugout with King but Kenny kicks him in the bad ribs. Tigre springs onto the ladder but get slammed down. The distraction lets Spud get back up, remove the bowtie, and bite King’s face. A big right hand knocks King down but Homicide breaks it up, sending the bad ribs down onto another ladder. King gets up and wins the title at 7:54.

Rating: C. What happened to this division? It used to be one of the highlights of the company but I can’t remember the last time there was a story that didn’t involve Option C and Destination X. It’s a title match, a few random matches, then a big multi-man mess with four to seven guys fighting for the belt and maybe one personality between them. Yeah the spots are cool, but I’d love to see someone actually make the division mean something again, even for a little bit.

Quick recap of Angle vs. Young.

We get to the voting for Carter vs. Anderson next week: you can vote for arm wrestling or a falls count anywhere match. The voting idea is cool, but does TNA have an app? You’re not a real wrestling company if you don’t have an app. And if TNA does have one, HOW MANY TIMES HAS IT BEEN DOWNLOADED??? THIS IS VITAL INFORMATION TO MY ABILITY TO BE A WRESTLING FAN!

Here’s Eric Young with a stretcher. Angle has wanted to see the real Eric Young, but the real version of him has been the one that has put everyone on a stretcher just like this. Tonight he has Kurt Angle in a non-title match, but that’s what Young wants. That means he can hurt Angle all he wants and put him out forever. See, Young is crazy because he has big eyes. You know who else has big eyes and is basically the exact same character as Young, but with a lot more energy and presence.

The Beat Down Clan is ready to take Drew Galloway down in the pipe on a pole match.

Rockstar Spud feels like he’s been robbed because his name was on a list with Jerry Lynn and AJ Styles. He’ll get his title back. Spud showed good emotion here and he’s growing on me more every time I see him.

Dollhouse promo with Taryn acting all psycho. She’s not worried about Brooke because it’s playtime. This is their house. The Dollhouse.

Knockouts Title: Brooke vs. Taryn Terrell

Taryn is defending but Brooke knocks her into the corner and out to the floor to start. Back in and some neckbreakers get two for Brooke but Jade trips her up, allowing Taryn to take over. She rubs Brooke’s face into the mat, starting a discussion of what the mat feels like. It’s not really funny, but at least it’s not Tazz and Tenay chattering.

A standing Curb Stomp looks to set up a high cross body from the champ but Brooke half dodges half falls out of the way. She nails a middle rope X-Factor but the Dollhouse pulls Taryn outside. That’s fine with Brooke who dives on all of them with a nice plancha. Back in and Marti offers a distraction, allowing Jade to shove Brooke off the top. Taryn’s cutter retains the title at 7:18.

Rating: C. Not bad here but there was no doubt about who was going to win here. They’re setting up a cool idea here with the Dollhouse being unbeatable and saying no one can beat her. That sounds like the calling card for one more match from Mickie James, who might just win the title and have one more run to further the wedge between her and Magnus?

The Dollhouse celebrates but Gail Kim comes out. Taryn points out that it’s three on one but Kong comes out to help even things up. The Dollhouse isn’t so sure now.

Slammiversary will be on pay per view on June 28.

Video on the Rising.

Low Ki vs. Drew Galloway

Pipe on a pole match, the second one I’ve seen Drew in in three days. Galloway has bad ribs coming in. They quickly head outside with the fans holding Low Ki for chops from Drew. Chair shots are exchanged with Drew getting the better of it but not being able to get the pipe. Drew can’t hit a powerbomb onto the chair so Ki fires off kicks to the ribs. It’s not enough to get the pipe down, but Ki kicks Drew onto the chair and hits a Warrior’s Way to drive the ribs into the steel.

That’s only good for two of course, but suddenly Ki remembers the pipe. Drew pops up to his feet and slugs it out on the top with the pipe falling to the floor. Ki knocks him into the Tree of Woe but misses another Warrior’s Way, allowing Drew to get the pipe. A shot to the ribs gets two on Galloway but he hits a quick Future Shock onto the chair (which doesn’t hurt his ribs whatsoever) for the pin at 7:25.

Rating: D+. Other than the story, there was zero need for this to be a pipe match and the pipe didn’t even play into the finish. It’s basically the same problem that killed the other pipe on a pole match, but at least they used the pipe here. I’m still not seeing the point of this feud, but this match didn’t help things.

The BDC and the Rising come out for a big brawl.

We recap Storm talking Mickie James out of her retirement last week.

Mickie James was filmed earlier today when James Storm came up to her at the market. Thankfully they were both mic’d up when Storm asked to hold Mickie and Magnus’ son.

Magnus is in the ring but Storm cuts him off before he can say anything. Storm says he wasn’t the one that said Mickie should have one more match but Magnus is getting annoyed. Mickie isn’t one of the Revolution lost souls and Storm can’t manipulate her. Storm smiles and says it was Magnus who hired a camera crew. He implies that he and Mickie used to be a thing and wonders why Mickie didn’t tell him about running into Storm in the parking lot. Good night how much better is Storm as the devil’s advocate instead of leading the horrible Revolution?

Angle says tonight is about violence and Young is leaving on a stretcher.

Eric Young vs. Kurt Angle

Non-title stretcher match but you win by strapping your opponent to a stretcher, meaning no line to cross. Angle has a bruised knee and chest coming in. They trade stomps to start with Young throwing Kurt to the floor. Both guys are rammed into the steps with Angle getting the better of it, only to get sent hard into the post as we take a break. Back with Angle reversing a whip but getting punched in the jaw. A release belly to belly puts Young down but Eric sends him outside. Young stomps him onto the steps to put Angle down, allowing him to finally get the stretcher.

Angle can’t hit the German off the apron but he can roll the Germans back inside. The third one causes a turnbuckle pad to be ripped off but they fall to the floor with Kurt still holding the grip. A low blow with Young’s shin guard slows Kurt down but the piledriver is countered into a catapult into the post. Angle hits the Slam on the floor but can’t strap Young onto the stretcher. The piledriver is countered into the ankle lock but Eric rolls him into the buckle. Now a pair of piledrivers connect and Young straps him to the stretcher for the win at 15:21.

Rating: C. And my eyes roll again. There’s no crazy, there’s no reason to believe Young is winning the title in the likely title match next week, there’s no reason for Young to have this spot over his English counterpart and there’s no reason to believe we’re not getting Carter vs. Angle in the actually interesting feud. I can’t stand this story as it’s just killing time until we get to the feud people actually want to see. Again, if Young actually acted crazy, I might care a little bit, but his matches are just standard heel matches with a piledriver as a finisher. It gets old hearing HE’S CRAZY when there’s no actual evidence of him being crazy.

Overall Rating: C-. This didn’t do it for me as the hardcore stuff didn’t change much. I like a lot of the places they’re going and next week has potential to be interesting, but they MUST get past this Young main event run as he’s just not in Angle’s league. Storm vs. Magnus, Gail/Kong vs. the Dollhouse and Galloway vs. the BDC are all good though and I could go for Spud fighting to get his title back as well. It’s a passable show, but the hardcore stuff didn’t add much.

Results

Hardys/Davey Richards b. Revolution – Swanton Bomb to Abyss

Kenny King b. Rockstar Spud, Tigre Uno and Mandrews – King pulled down the title

Taryn Terrell b. Brooke – Cutter

Drew Galloway b. Low Ki – Future Shock on a chair

Eric Young b. Kurt Angle – Young strapped Angle to a chair

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Impact Wrestling
Date: April 17, 2015
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentator: Josh Matthews

Tonight is a one idea show as there will be a full Tag Team Title tournament with four first round matches and the winners advancing to an Ultimate X match for the championships. There may also be some more about Kurt Angle’s World Title, with Eric Young as the next potential challenger due to Angle not pinning him last week. Let’s get to it.

We open with a preview of the tournament.

Here are the first round matches:

James Storm/Khoya

Hardys

Low Ki/Kenny King

Mr. Anderson/Rockstar Spud

Ethan Carter III/Bram

Tigre Uno/Jay Rios

BroMans

Austin Aries/Bobby Roode

Tag Team Title Tournament First Round: Khoya/James Storm vs. Hardys

The Hardys attack at the bell and it’s a brawl to start. The Revolution gets the better of it with Khoya throwing Jeff around to take over and the fans cheering for Matt. James and Khoya take turns beating on Matt until Storm puts on a chinlock. Khoya gets two off a clothesline but Matt sweeps Storm’s leg and makes the tag off to Jeff. Things speed way up with the legdrop between the legs and basement dropkick to Storm’s face but Jeff has to deal with an interfering Khoya. That goes badly for the Revolution as Storm Last Calls Khoya by mistake, setting up the Swanton for the pin at 5:40.

Rating: C-. This was fine but I’m not wild on either team. The Revolution stopped being interesting months ago and the fact that the Tag Team Titles is the best they can do at this point tells you everything you need to do know about them. They just don’t have anything to do and they haven’t since day one. With no direction, there’s no point to the team being around.

Storm beats up Khoya, hopefully signaling the ending of the group.

The Hardys say it’s time to fulfill their destiny. To be associated with better teams and be considered great by proxy instead of doing anything by yourselves?

Eric Young says he should be #1 contender. We get a CRAZY closeup of his CRAZY face to make sure that his CRAZY voice is clearly heard. He’s CRAZY you see.

Here’s Eric Young in a Kurt Angle shirt. He’s not happy because Angle is ducking him for a World Title shot. Young doesn’t care how many people he has to hurt because he wants his shot as #1 contender. This brings out Kurt, who says if Young wants to say something to him, say it to his face.

Young sees him as someone that can be hurt because the title belongs to him. Kurt says the title match is next week but he wants to know why Eric is doing all these things. Young talks about a hole in his spirit after he lost the title. That’s fine with Angle, but he wants the old Eric Young next week. Kurt turns his back and dares Eric to hit him, but Young says he’ll see him next week. This has been another chapter in “Eric Young sucks and has no business in this spot” theater.

The BDC threatens Spud in the back but Anderson comes in for the save.

Tag Team Title Tournament First Round: Rockstar Spud/Mr. Anderson vs. Kenny King/Low Ki

Spud charges in a bit too fast and gets double teamed to start with Low Ki chopping him down. After both BDC members get in some right hands, King stomps Spud in the back to keep him from lunging for a tag. King ducks an enziguri and kicks Spud in the ribs to keep him in trouble but the fans are entirely behind Spud. Ki puts on an abdominal stretch to stay on the bad ribs for some psychology.

The BDC breaks up another hot tag attempt so Anderson comes in with a double clothesline and drags Spud to the corner before getting back on the apron. That makes the hot tag a lot easier and Anderson comes in to clean house. Anderson throws Spud into a hurricanrana to send Ki to the floor and the Underdog plants King, only to have Ki come off the top with the Warrior’s Way to Spud, giving King the pin at 6:50.

Rating: C. Standard tag match here which means it was fine for the most part. They even threw in some basic psychology with the rib work, which is more than you get most of the time. The BDC going in makes more sense as they have the experience together, which is more than enough to take down a makeshift team comprised of an overrated guy in Anderson and a plucky underdog.

Carter says he and Bram will win the titles tonight as a preview for his World Title run. Bram: “I’m going to rip Tigre Uno’s mask off and shove it down his throat!” Carter: “Good! Just make sure we win first.”

MVP and Homicide congratulate Ki and King on the win. Homicide is given the special assignment (RUN! That’s what they told Taz!) of beating up Kurt Angle.

Tag Team Title Tournament First Round: Jay Rios/Tigre Uno vs. Bram/Ethan Carter III

Rios is a masked man who appeared as a jobber in TNA back in the Jeff Jarrett MMA days. He’s certainly no Essa. Carter and Rios trade wristlocks to start before Tigre comes in for a double dropkick. Carter bails to the floor and Tigre makes the mistake of diving at Tyrus like a schmuck, earning him a World’s Strongest Slam on the floor.

Bram gets in some stomps before Carter throws on a chinlock. A leg dive keeps Tigre from making the hot tag but Bram misses an elbow, allowing for the lukewarm tag to Rios. Jay flips out of a backdrop and hits a springboard into a cutter but Carter uses the arm brace to knock Rios silly, setting up the Brighter Side of Suffering, but Carter tags himself in for the pin at 3:50.

Rating: D. I’m really not a fan of matches like these as they make the show feel even longer than it already does. It helps that they kept it so short but this show really hasn’t done much to make me care about the main event so far. The fact that Bram and Carter are already having issues doesn’t help either.

Kurt Angle says Young has gone from genius to crazy but he wants the old Young back. As for Homicide, he better have good insurance.

Christy Hemme brings out the Knockouts (or at least five of them) to announcer that next week is a night of all Knockouts. Love thinks the night should be all about her because she has the most Knockout Titles of all time. The fans chant for Brooke as Gail goes on her usual rant about how awesome the Knockouts are. Madison cuts her off before the entire building falls asleep and says none of them are the Queen Bee.

Christy tries to calm them down with the offer of a fourway between Brooke, Gail, Madison and Angelina for the #1 contendership. Brooke is WAY too excited about this announcement. There will also be new Knockouts and Taryn defending against Kong. Taryn talks about her passion and how she’ll prove herself next week. Kong comes out and cleans house but Taryn dives onto everyone.

The BroMans seem to have issues with each other but Aries and Roode come in to say they’ll focus on Robbie, who is clearly the better BroMan. Methinks shenanigans are afoot. Robbie leaves and Roode thinks he bought it. Bobby Roode and Austin Aries had to cause friction to beat the BroMans? Really?

Tag Team Title Tournament First Round: BroMans vs. Austin Aries/Bobby Roode

For the fourth match of the night, the good guys attack to start with Robbie getting beaten down by both former World Champions early on. Aries sidesteps an invading Jesse to send him into his partner, setting up the Hennig neck snap for two on Robbie. The BroMans finally get in some offense but get in an argument over who gets to work on Roode. Robbie hooks a chinlock before a clothesline gets two.

Jesse demands a tag and Robbie isn’t too keen on doing as he asks. Roode comes back with a neckbreaker to drop both guys and the hot tag brings in Austin. He’s quickly stopped by Godderz, but Jesse gets a bit too bossy, allowing Roode to break up the BroDown. Aries knocks Jesse outside for a suicide dive, setting up the spinebuster into the 450 from Aries for the pin on Jesse at 5:20.

Rating: C. This was fine for the most part as Roode and Aries work really well together, but again, they needed to put a wedge between the BroMans? Aries continues to be the most polished guy in the company and pretty easily the best guy around, which hopefully leads him back to the World Title scene soon.

The BroMans fight post match with DJZ coming out to try and break it up.

Homicide is beating up Angle in the back. The fight heads into the arena after a break with Angle getting back into it but eating a cutter in the ring. Angle ducks a boot shot and grabs the ankle lock, drawing in the BDC for the group attack. They bring in a chair but the Rising comes out to get rid of everyone but MVP. Eric Young comes out to stop MVP from bashing Angle with the chair but picks it up himself, only to drop it and leave (in a CRAAAAZY manner of course. Because he’s crazy you see).

Video on Ultimate X.

Dollhouse is coming.

Preview for next week’s Knockouts show.

Tag Team Titles: Hardys vs. Kenny King/Low Ki vs. Ethan Carter III/Bram vs. Austin Aries/Bobby Roode

Ultimate X. Huge brawl to start with the Hardys and Roode/Aries throwing the other four outside. Roode and Aries start taking over with Matthews continuing to call them by their old name of the Dirty Heels. The Hardys are tossed outside as well and we take a break. Back with the BDC and Bram/Carter clearing the ring for a change with Bram and Carter throwing the BDC to the floor. They decide to bring in a ladder but that’s the Hardys game, allowing them to come back in and take over.

The BDC and the Hardys go for the ropes but Tyrus shakes the structure to break it up. Tyrus puts Carter on his shoulders but Aries dropkicks them down before Roode hits the Blockbuster on Bram. Roode gets on Aries’ shoulders but Homicide comes in for the save. Now it’s King and Matt on the ladder and Hardy hooking a Twist of Fate to put everyone down. Matt climbs up again but Ki springboards onto the ladder for the save. As they fight, Jeff climbs up above the X, kicks Ki away and pulls down the belts, while standing on a ladder of course, to win at 12:06.

Rating: B-. So we sat through an hour and a half of qualifying matches to see eight and a half minutes of a ladder match that TNA calls Ultimate X? Eh at least it’s not more Eric Young so I can live with it. This was good enough but the Hardys winning doesn’t do much for me. I know it’s setting up a big match with the Wolves when they get back but this doesn’t do much to change the opinion that the Hardys don’t do much outside of gimmick matches.

Overall Rating: C. This felt like an Impact sized version of One Night Only and if you’ve ever seen one of those, you know how bad that is. The problem here is the title match wasn’t good enough to validate the not very good buildup. Other than that we had Eric Young and the BDC tormenting Angle all night, which is about as dull of a one two punch as I’ve seen in years. It doesn’t help that this show felt like it hit the brakes at 9:45 and crawled all the way to the ending, making this far more dull than bad. One final note: Matthews was actually really solid on his own. It was a very nice surprise.

Results

Hardys b. James Storm/Khoya – Swanton Bomb to Khoya

Kenny King/Low Ki b. Mr. Anderson/Rockstar Spud – King pinned Spud after a Warrior’s Way from Ki

Ethan Carter III/Bram b. Tigre Uno/Jay Rios – Brighter Side of Suffering to Rios

Austin Aries/Bobby Roode b. BroMans – 450 to Godderz

Hardys b. Austin Aries/Bobby Roode, Low Ki/Kenny King and Bram/Ethan Carter III – Hardys pulled down the belts

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1998 Pay Per View reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Impact Wrestling
Date: April 10, 2015
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Taz, Josh Matthews

This is an interesting time for TNA as they have a bunch of potential challengers for Kurt Angle’s World Title but it seems that Lashley has the most valid claim to a shot. Last week Angle pinned Lashley but the replay showed that Lashley’s shoulder was up. Other than that we have Drew Galloway’s Rising ready to deal with MVP’s Beat Down Clan. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Galloway debuting a few weeks back to try and take back wrestling from the Beat Down Clan. He now has his friends in the Rising to help in his battle.

Tonight, fan Tweets will be airing on screen. This is apparently interesting for reasons that I don’t really understand but WWE does it so it’s a good idea right?

Here’s Kurt Angle to address the end of last week’s show. There’s been a lot of buzz over the match with Lashley so he’d like Lashley out here right now. We look at the tape of Lashley’s shoulder being up and the fans want a rematch. Angle says he won’t back down from a title defense because he knows he can beat Lashley again. They’re ready to fight tonight but Eric Young comes out to crank up the suck.

Eric says he’s #1 contender and the rankings say so. He’s a main event champion and Angle is holding his belt. The fans don’t seem to agree but Young grabs Lashley’s face. Angle goes for Young but Lashley spears the champ down by mistake. Oh the drama. Maybe we can see Eric Young get in a match way over his head again but get to see him survive because he’s Eric Young and has been around forever and for some reason that makes him interesting. I mean, he’s not tall like Big Show but he has been around a long time.

Post break, Angle is still in the ring and says he’ll fight Lashley and Young tonight at the same time.

Video on the history of Awesome Kong vs. Gail Kim.

Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong

#1 contenders match. They go nose to nose until Gail gets launched across the ring by the hair. Back up and Kin gets in a few unsold shots before being tossed right back down. As the match goes on, I get THRILLING Tweets of fans saying they like the match and that they’re watching the show. You can’t buy journalism like this people. Gail fights up from a camel clutch but runs into a hard clothesline. King rips the turnbuckle pad off and sends Gail outside, only to get dropkicked into the barricade.

Back in and Gail fires off forearms to the chest before getting two off a spinning cross body. Kong misses a charge into the exposed buckle to give Gail two as we get a Tweet from Jim Ross about how good Gail is. See, that’s the kind of thing we need live commentary to point out. Eat Defeat gets another near fall but Kong just grabs her by the throat and sets Kim on the top rope. Gail dives again and goes right into the Awesome Bomb for the pin at 7:18.

Rating: C. This is one of those old, storied feuds in TNA that was indeed cool ten years ago or however long it was, but now it’s more like “hey, I remember when they had matches back then.” Thankfully they didn’t play that up too strong here and it was really just a step above a Kong squash. Taryn vs. Kong could be good if they book it right.

We immediately cut to James Storm and Mickie James. Mickie thanks him for the save last week but that’s just how southerners are raised. This is more like the old Storm. She goes to leave but he asks for a hug. Manik comes up and asks what was up with that but Storm goes back into Revolution mode and tells Manik to never question his motives. He orders Manik to round up the team for a fight. That transition from Kong to Storm was way too fast and something TNA needs to work on. It’s ok to stay on the winner more than two seconds before you get to your next thing.

Back from a break with the Revolution in the ring and Storm sitting in a chair. He’s brought them out here to make things very clear: this is about a revolution, not for him to take care of them. Each and every one of the men in this ring failed him, which is why Sanada is gone. Storm yells at Khoya, saying he brought him out of that horrible country but now Khoya has failed him.

There’s always room for one more, but now there can always be room for one less. He’s going to win this Tag Team Title tournament and one of them is going to be his partner. The fans chant for Manik, but Storm makes a three way to determine who gets the spot. A referee comes out and Storm insists that there must be a winner.

Abyss vs. Khoya vs. Manik

Abyss cleans house but Manik hits him with a chair, which seems to be legal. Khoya picks up a stick that Storm left in the ring but Abyss knocks him into the corner. Apparently the title match is next week in Ultimate X. That’s rather sudden but that’s life in TNA. Manik counters a chokeslam into a standing cross armbreaker (Six Second Magic for you No Mercy fans out there) but Khoya comes in for the save. A Sky High to Manik is enough to get Khoya the spot in the tournament at 2:50.

We go back to James Storm’s barn with the ghost hunters from last week. The results are inconclusive.

Here’s the Rising for a chat. Drew really does fit in this role. He’s so awesome that he can cut a promo and have his LIVE Tweet show up on screen at the same time. Drew says he’d give us the shirt off his back and that’s exactly what he does. He started the Stand Up campaign to bring wrestling back where it belongs and the fans are part of the Rising with them. Drew hands the microphone off for the official introductions.

First up we have Micah, formerly known as Camacho. The BDC is a bunch of bullies and it’s time to punch them right in the mouth. The other member is Eli Drake (you might know him as Shaun Ricker) and he talks about how they’re definitely not Superstars, but professional wrestlers. Drew throws down the gauntlet and here’s the BDC to answer. King thinks they’re rising like a yeast infection and MVP accepts the challenge. Drew counts down from three to one and the brawl is on in the aisle as we go to a break. Drake and Micah are just warm bodies but they were fine here.

Rising vs. Beat Down Clan

This would be the second match made by the wrestlers in the first hour. King grabs a headlock on Drake to start but gets caught in a powerslam. It’s quickly off to Micah vs. MVP with the BDC taking over and stomping away in the corner. MVP comes back in and puts on a chinlock before kicking Micah in the face for two. Micah scores with a Samoan drop and Drew gets the hot tag to clean house. Everything breaks down with the Rising clearing the ring, leaving Micah to dive onto all three of them. Drew and Drake pose but a masked man in BDC gear sneaks in with what looked like a pipe for the DQ at 6:52.

Rating: D+. This match was watchable but I’m really not seeing why I should care. Rising is a bunch of newcomers and Drew stands out, but I’m not really sure why these teams need to fight. The BDC hasn’t actually won anything other than the X Title once or twice. Do we really need a stable to fight against them?

The masked man is Homicide. Oh…..great.

Angle says he’s ready to prove himself again when Eric Young jumps him. After a break, Angle insists he’s fighting tonight.

DJZ vs. Davey Richards

Feeling out process to start with both guys flying around a bit until Davey dropkicks him out to the floor. Davey kicks him in the face from the apron but DJZ comes back with some shots of his own back inside. That’s fine with Davey as he wins a slugout and sends DJZ to the floor for a suicide dive. Back in again and a running kick gets two for Davey but he misses the top rope stomp. Instead he throws DJZ up in the air for the kick to the chest, setting up a spinning kick to the head (Creeping Death) for the pin at 5:32.

Rating: C. Well that happened. I guess they’re setting up the tag tournament next week but it was announced as the X-Division match of the night. The match was entertaining enough but having matches for the sake of having a match isn’t the best way to get my interest up. Still though, watchable.

Homicide says the BDC is familia. MVP says they’re the Beat Down Clan and they do what they do because they can. I’ve heard worse catchphrases.

We see some girls playing with dolls. The Dollhouse is coming soon. The girls appeared to be Marti Belle and Mia Yim.

Here are the Hardys to celebrate beating James Storm last week. Next on their list is winning the Tag Team Champions for the first time in TNA. This brings out Ethan Carter III and Tyrus to remind us that Ethan is undefeated for nineteen months, but somehow he hasn’t gotten his title shot. He’s entering the tournament to get a Tag Team Title, but he needs a partner. He wants someone who can hurt people and that man is…..Bram. Now that’s interesting. Bram comes out and says he hates everyone, but he’ll team up with Carter because he hates him the least.

This brings out Anderson, who asks if Carter just said he and Bram are the odds on favorites. Carter: “Yup.” Anderson: “Huh?” “Yeah.” “Huh?” “I do.” “Huh?” “Indeed.” This goes on for about ten more seconds because Carter is rather entertaining on the mic. Anderson’s partner is Spud and they have a quick argument over Spud grabbing Anderson’s microphone. The two of them head to the ring but Austin Aries comes out, talks about loving gold, and announces Roode as his partner.

A preview for next week shows that we have four qualifying matches and the winners going to an Ultimate X match for the Tag Team Titles. It also shows the four teams in the Ultimate X match because these previews aren’t thought out in advance.

TNA World Title: Kurt Angle vs. Eric Young vs. Lashley

Angle is defending and this is one fall to a finish. Young hides on the floor to start and lets the suplex machines fight, but they quickly get together and beat Young back and forth. Lashley plays Bret on a Hart Attack and Young gets beaten up on the floor as we take a break. Back with Angle busting out the suplexes on both guys and clotheslining Lashley to the floor. Kurt ducks his head and eats a piledriver but Lashley makes the save and throws Eric outside.

The running powerslam gets two on the champ and a big spear gets the same with Young making the save. Lashley tweaks his ankle on a leapfrog but is still able to low bridge Eric to the floor due to Eric sucking so much. Both challengers get rolling Germans but Young breaks up the ankle lock (it lasts about 20 seconds, which Josh timed as three minutes) and puts Lashley in the Figure Four. Lashley makes the rope so Eric wedges a chair in the corner, only to get caught in the delayed vertical. The spear hits the chair though and Angle Slams both guys, setting up the moonsault onto Lashley’s bad leg for the pin at 13:43.

Rating: B-. So now we get Angle vs. Young because Young will be CRAZY while saying he never got beat right? You know, because we absolutely, totally and completely need Eric Young in our lives and main events. He’s been around for years you know. The match was decent enough, as long as Young was kept reined in.

Post match Angle leaves so Young goes after Bobby’s leg with the chair and puts on another figure four.

Overall Rating: C+. Decent enough show that set up the tournament next week, but the wrestling outside of the main event was only so good. The stories don’t have the same heat they did a few weeks back, but at least we’ve still got enough good stuff to keep things going. I would however appreciate a top heel instead of a bunch of mid level ones running around. Angle seems to be a transitional champion and that’s the right kind of reign for him at the moment, hopefully with Carter rising up to the top spot soon enough.

Results

Awesome Kong b. Gail Kim – Awesome Bomb

Khoya b. Abyss and Manik – Sky High to Manik

Rising b. Beat Down Clan via DQ when Homicide interfered

Davey Richards b. DJZ – Creeping Death

Kurt Angle b. Lashley and Eric Young – Moonsault to Lashley

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1998 Pay Per View reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Impact Wrestling
Date: January 16, 2015
Location: Manhattan Center, New York City, New York
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Taz

This is the debut on Fridays which will be their regular night. The big story coming out of last week is Lashley taking the World Title back from Bobby Roode and what appeared to be the formation of another heel stable as Eric Young turned on Roode and seemed to join forces with MVP, Kenny King, Samoa Joe and Low Ki. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of last week’s four title matches with Aries and Lashley winning the X-Division and World Titles respectfully.

Josh is in the control room and says we’re going to see this show in a way we’ve never seen before. It’s going to be more interactive and behind the scenes than ever before. Taz thinks the idea sounds cool. The two of them will be in various locations throughout the night.

Roode says nothing is more important than the title and Eric Young cost him the belt last week. He doesn’t know why, but he wants Eric Young one on one tonight. They kept this simple and Roode sold the intensity very well.

Here are MVP, Joe, Low Ki, King and a woman I don’t recognize. Taz and Josh are in a booth and are shown on a split screen. MVP says you can’t keep a good man down and after a quick lane changes, he’s right back in the driver’s seat. He’s always known it was him against the world since the day he started wrestling. He knew he had to surround himself with people he knew, so he went to the family. These men traveled the roads with him 500 miles a day for a hot dog and a handshake. They are known as the Beat Down Clan and they’re “nobody to F….mess with.”

MVP introduces Young but emphasizes that he is not part of the BDC. The fans tell Eric that he sold out, but he’s all serious and says that doesn’t matter. Young, with a haircut, says MVP did something for his family that made Eric change his opinion. Eric had a brother once. He took care of Roode and even gave him one of the first title shots. Where was his title shot when Roode won the belt? Maybe Roode was afraid of losing again, because Young is a world class man and friend. When Young was laid up, he only got a text message from Roode, but MVP called him up and told him the truth.

MVP says he planted a seed in Young and it grew to a sequoia. Now it’s time for the World Champ, but Lashley doesn’t come out to his music. MVP introduces him again but gets Kurt Angle in wrestling gear, sporting a big knee brace. He says Young is going to pay for his sins tonight when Roode gets his hands on him. Angle promises to make every one of them tap. Joe gets out of the ring and gets right in Kurt’s face but gets a punch to the jaw. The entire BDC gets in his face but security breaks it up. Angle wants Joe right now and apparently that’s good enough.

Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe

This is joined in progress after a break with Joe working on the knee and slapping on a leg bar. He switches it up to something like a figure four as we go split screen to see a producer trying to find Lashley but there’s no one in his dressing room. Angle escapes the hold and starts rolling the Germans. Joe shrugs it off and hits the corner enziguri, only to have the Clutch countered into the ankle lock. That’s quickly escaped as well but the Angle Slam (what knee injury?) gets two. There’s the ankle lock again but this time the roll through takes out the referee. A low blow sets up the Clutch and Angle taps at 6:15 shown.

Rating: C-. It really amazes me how fast TNA can go from establishing a new hero (well as new as Angle can be) to having him lose in the middle of the ring. No it wasn’t clean, but couldn’t they have made this wait a bit longer? TNA seems terrified of the idea of building up a hero and this felt like even more of the same for yet another heel stable.

The BDC comes in to beat down Angle but Roode makes the save with a chair.

Back from a break with Roode sitting in the ring in the chair. He says this has already gone too far, which the fans agree with due to their ROODE GOT SCREWED chant. He’s been here a long time and this ring is his home. Roode may live for wrestling, but tonight in New York City, this is about payback. Another short but intense promo from Roode.

Taz and Matthews are in the booth again to talk about Impact: Unlocked tomorrow morning about 10am. This is a behind the scenes look at TNA, including power rankings and special features like this. We see an interview with Magnus, talking about doing this to provide for his family. His son looks up at him and he wants to make him proud. Another clip says he’d be fine with being a free agent in a market like this.

We look at JB getting his hair shaved last week.

Spud apologizes to JB but Borash isn’t really upset. He knows Carter will get what’s coming to him one day.

The Revolution is in a balcony to watch the next match.

Hardys vs. Wolves

Winners get a title shot against the Revolution. Matt and Eddie get things going with the Hardys quickly taking over, allowing for a tag to Jeff (big reaction). A nice headscissors takes Davey down and a double belly to back suplex gets two. The Hardys hit clotheslines from either side but everything breaks down and the Wolves send both Hardys into opposite corners with Matt getting tied in the Tree of Woe.

A drop toehold from Eddie sets up an elbow to the back from Davey for two. Davey fires off the kicks in the corner but misses the top rope stomp, allowing Matt to hit the Side Effect. It’s off to Jeff vs. Eddie as everything breaks down again. The Wolves throw Matt to the floor but he DDTs both guys down. Jeff is next to a different corner so he walks across the top rope (think Old School or Elix Skipper’s cage walk) to get to the other corner and dive on everyone else.

Back in and the Swanton hits Eddie’s knees and ReDRagon’s Chasing the Dragon (with a Falcon’s Arrow instead of a brainbuster) gets two on Jeff. The Hardys make a blind tag and Eddie takes another Side Effect. Jeff gets crotched on top and Eddie hits a Twist of Fate for two but Jeff Swantons in for the save. Poetry in Motion hits Eddie and the Twisting Stunner sets up an elevated Twisting Stunner for the pin at 10:00.

Rating: B. This was really entertaining and good if you don’t mind your tag match having almost no tagging. It got a lot better near the end but I could go for other teams besides the Hardys getting title shots. I can live with it though as long as it doesn’t lead to Jeff vs. Matt again.

Next week is Feast or Fired and Bram says he’s going to feast.

Eric Young is worried about Roode coming for revenge.

Ethan Carter III and Tyrus take over the production booth. Carter: “Ground control to major bald please.” They want the cameras on Jeremy Borash and we see his mostly bald head. Carter knows JB thinks he’s Heisenberg and tough now, so how about they have a match next week. JB has thirty minutes to decide.

Lashley has arrived.

Bobby Roode vs. Eric Young

No DQ and it’s a brawl in the aisle to start. Taz sums up the feud in simple terms: “The guy in the green screwed over the guy in the black and the guy in the black is ticked.” Back from a break with the fight in the crowd and a split screen showing Lashley going into his dressing room with no comment. Young takes it back to ringside and stomps on Roode’s head before chopping him against the barricade. Eric Young just looking all stoic doesn’t make me care about him TNA.

More forearms stop Roode’s comeback attempt, because Heaven forbid a good guy gets the crowd going. Two chairs are brought in and Young puts one in the corner. Back in and Roode fires off some right hands before nailing a nice spinebuster. The Roode Bomb onto a chair is countered and Young sends him head first into the corner chair. A piledriver onto the chair is enough to pin Roode at 10:11.

Rating: C. I could barely see a good chunk of the match but more importantly, TNA WILL YOU FREAKING LET A HERO LAST MORE THAN A FEW WEEKS??? Stop turning everything over to the heels over and over and over and over and over. It’s been nearly thirteen years of this same stuff and it’s gotten them onto the same network as Bathroom Kings (yes that’s really a show). Is a hero that doesn’t have to job to Eric Young so much to ask for?

MVP comes out and says maybe someone will visit Roode in the hospital.

Aries says it’s a battle to keep his X-Division Title tonight. If you back him into a corner, he’s going to get really dangerous.

We recap last week’s battle royal with Awesome Kong returning for the showdown with Havok. Again, Havok winning like five matches doesn’t make her Kong’s equal.

Brooke is mad about what Robbie said after how he performed on the Amazing Race.

Brooke Adams/Taryn Terrell vs. Beautiful People

All three BroMans are at ringside. DJZ takes a quick picture and we instantly see it on screen. He’s no Tyler Breeze. Adams hammers away on Angelina to start before taking Velvet down by the arm. Terrell comes in for a suplex and the Beautiful People are “dropkicked” to the outside, setting up Taryn’s bit dive to take out everyone on the floor. Back in and a middle rope clothesline drops Velvet, but Robbie gets on the apron to distract Brooke, letting Velvet grab a rollup with a handful of trunks for the pin at 2:30.

Post match Kong appears to destroys the Beautiful People and DJZ. Havok comes out for the showdown but security breaks it up.

JB turns down Carter’s challenge but Carter says JB is TNA. He should take the challenge because no one respect him. JB snaps and says he’ll fight Ethan next week.

Taz and Josh are going to preview something for next week. I’m not sure about this studio thing as it makes me feel like I’m watching a recap show. It’s not bad but it’s going to take some getting used to.

Manik tells a camera to follow him. They go to see James Storm, who tells Manik to leave them. Storm says it’s time for the world to be introduced to his newest disciple: Koya (formerly Mahabali Shera). Koya means lost in Hindi, but now Koya has been found. Next week, the world will see what he is capable of. The guy looks good if nothing else.

Video on Feast or Fired. It’s something like Money in the Bank with four briefcases, one for a shot at every title (other than the Knockouts) and one with a pink slip.

X-Division Title: Low Ki vs. Austin Aries

The BDC is at ringside. Aries took the title from Low Ki last week. The champ starts fast by backdropping Low Ki over the top but Ki’s feet get caught in the ropes to make the crash even worse. Back in and Aries gets two off the Pendulum Elbow and the Last Chancery sends Ki running for the ropes. Low Ki bails to the floor for a breather and meeting with the BDC. Why not just have them interfere now to give Ki the title? You know it’s coming because they’re a heel stable and therefore they have to win titles.

The advice works as Aries’ suplex is countered with Low Ki dropping him over the ropes. A big chop gets two but also ticks Aries off, causing him to fire off even harder chops of his own. The discus forearm sets up the running corner dropkick, but Ki knees out of the brainbuster. Austin crushes the knee and hooks the Last Chancery, only to have the BDC get on the apron. The referee misses Ki tapping out and the BDC gets on the apron, with MVP crotching Aries. Ki gets up and Ki Crushes his way to the title at 6:48.

Rating: C+. Why would you want to be a face in this company? You might get to hold a title for a few weeks, but at the end of the day, this company is about heels ruling everything around and long stories with them on top instead of letting anyone stand up as a hero. Also, well done on throwing titles around again. That’s always a good idea.

The BDC is still in the ring (of course) and call out Lashley. The champ comes out this time and MVP takes credit for everything Lashley has done. He makes the mistake of saying the title belongs to the BDC but Lashley isn’t cool with that. MVP says Lashley owes the team some thanks but Lashley turns to walk away.

MVP goes to stop him but Lashley tells Hassan (MVP’s real first name) to let him go. That’s ok with MVP, who brings up their time together in WWE. He wants one hug for the road though, which Lashley reluctantly gives. MVP kisses him on the cheek and the beatdown is on. Lashley gets hit in the face with the belt and MVP leaves with the title.

Overall Rating: C-. I’m getting really, really sick of heel stables, especially when you can almost guarantee they’ll be in power by March. This is all TNA does and it’s almost all they’ve done since they debuted. I’m tired of being told to wait and see where it goes, because it ALWAYS GOES THE EXACT SAME WAY.

Look what we had here: one story dominating about 80% of this show, the heels completely dominating the entire show, and most of the heroes getting beaten down. This is after Dixie’s reign of terror, which came after the Aces and 8’s, which came after Immoral. It just never ends and TNA makes it harder and harder to want to stick with them every single week.

Results

Samoa Joe b. Kurt Angle – Koquina Clutch

Hardys b. Wolves – Elevated Twisting Stunner to Edwards

Eric Young b. Bobby Roode – Piledriver onto a chair

Beautiful People b. Brooke Adams/Taryn Terrell – Rollup with a handful of trunks

Low Ki b. Austin Aries – Ki Crusher

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Saturday Night’s Main Event at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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Today we’re looking at a team that had some of the best precision you’ll see this side of the 80s: the World’s Greatest Tag Team of Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin.

The team was brought together at the end of 2002 as glorified bodyguards for Kurt Angle in his feud with Brock Lesnar. The trio was collectively known as Team Angle and would see their first major action together in one of the main events of No Way Out 2003. This was billed as a six man tag but Edge had his first major neck injury, making it a handicap match.

Team Angle vs. Chris Benoit/Brock Lesnar

Team Angle is Angle himself of course and the World’s Greatest Tag Team who have the world and tag titles. You can figure out the combination of those. Benoit had been feuding with Angle before this and Lesnar won the Rumble so he has the main event slot with Angle all set already.

I love that Toothless Aggression shirt. It’s such a great play on words. The UFC Heavyweight Champion looks freaking awesome. He really was a once in a lifetime find and was only there for two years. I hope he comes back some time. Shelton and Benoit start us off. We’re more or less just waiting on the Angle vs. Lesnar showdown here.

Instead we get Lesnar vs. Haas because that’s all we can do. Brock destroys him and Angle won’t fight him. Benjamin comes in and gets his head kicked in too. Taz wants to know what a Canuck is and thinks it sounds stupid. Angle gets a quick choke in which fails completely. Shelton KICKS HIM IN THE FACE to send him down.

Ah here’s Angle. Oh and Heyman manages the heels too. He got around at this point. Benoit seems to have no problem with having Lesnar fight all three guys at once either. Angle gets a modified rear naked choke as we hear about some kid named John Cena fighting Lesnar recently. That would be HUGE today to put it mildly.

Brock just destroys everyone he fights eventually, breaking Angle’s choke by ramming his head into the buckle. Cole suggests that Angle vs. Benoit is the most anticipated match in history. Just…no. Benoit comes in and ENDS Team Angle with Germans. Belly to belly off the top for Angle to Benoit and brings in Haas.

Back to Angle. Well that was rather pointless. Naturally they crank things WAY up as this is a month after their masterpiece at the Rumble. Haas comes in and everyone stops cheering or caring it seems. That should tell you something guys. Benjamin vs. Benoit gets a bit better reaction. Sweet GOODNESS Benoit could throw chops.

Hot tag to Lesnar who just runs through everything in sight. He hits Haas with a shoulderblock so hard that Haas would have been able to sit on the middle or even top rope if he had landed there. Angle comes in and it’s a big mess again. Benoit and Haas are the only ones left until we get to the part almost everyone is here to see: Benoit vs. Angle on a mat. Crossface to ankle lock to crossface to ankle lock and back to the crossface. Total time: 14 seconds.

Angle is one of the most amazing performers ever. He can go from being an idiot that makes you crack up laughing to being so stupid that you want to smack him upside his head to being very intense but he backs everything up with great matches. That’s very rare. Off the top of my head maybe Cena and Shawn are the only ones I’d put in the category with him. As I babble on about him, Benoit gets the Crossface on Haas. Angle gets the belt but walks into the F5 as Haas taps out.

Rating: C+. It’s good but at the same time, what did this prove? Lesnar and Angle were in there for a bit but Mania is already set in stone. It’s understandable that he couldn’t do much as his neck was more or less held together by gum at this point so there was only one way to do this.

They would pick up the Smackdown Tag Team Titles around this point and defended them in a three way at Wrestlemania XIX.

Smackdown Tag Titles: Los Guerreros vs. Chris Benoit/Rhyno vs. World’s Greatest Tag Team

Haas and Benjamin are defending here. This is Benoit’s reward for having the match of the year against Angle two months earlier, followed by a feud with the freaking FBI while Kevin Nash got world title shots on PPV. I’m sure HHH has NOTHING to do with this right? It’s a big brawl to start until we get down to Benoit vs. Guerrero for a chop off. They collide in the middle of the ring with both guys going down. Rhyno comes in to face Eddie and gets two off a powerslam.

Off to Shelton who pounds Rhyno down before hitting an elbow to the face for two. Off to Haas for a double tag team by the champions on Rhyno. Rhyno throws Haas around with ease and it’s off to Benoit for more chops in the corner. A snap suplex gets two as does its belly to back cousin. Back to Rhyno vs. Benjamin as the announcers talk about Haas and Benjamin having stage fright.

Eddie comes in and dropkicks Rhyno down before it’s back to Benoit for more chopping on his fellow dead guy. Eddie snapmares him down and loads up the Frog Splash, only to have Benoit run over to the corner for some crotching and a superplex. Guerrero comes right back with a brainbuster for two as Haas breaks up the cover again. Off to Chavo who fires off some fast clotheslines to the champions, only to get caught in Rolling Germans by Benoit.

Benjamin comes in off a blind tag and superkicks Chris down for two. Eddie tags himself in and collides with Benoit to put both guys down. Shelton comes in to work on Benoit some more and a legdrop gets two. Eddie breaks it up with a Frog Splash but Chavo tags himself in, only to be suplexed down by Haas. Rhyno comes in for some Gores including one to Chavo, but Benjamin comes in (I have no idea if he was legal) and steals the retaining pin on Chavo.

Rating: C. The match was fine but it had no business being on Wrestlemania. This could have been on any given episode of Smackdown and no one would have noticed the difference. Rhyno and Benoit were just thrown together while the Guerreros were a regular team and former champions. Not bad here but not Wrestlemania worthy.

Here’s a regular version at Backlash 2003.

Smackdown Tag Titles: Team Angle vs. Los Guerreros

The Smackdown Tag Titles were established in the fall and had been a big highlight of the company ever since. They let the wrestlers go out and have great matches, and when you had guys like these four, Angle/Benoit and Edge/Mysterio, you could mix and match anyone and get an entertaining match. Team Angle (who are defending here) brings out a portrait of Angle who is too hurt to be here. This is Los Guerreros’ rematch after the champs won the titles in February.

Eddie and Charlie get us going. They take it to the mat quickly and it’s a stalemate. Eddie gets three straight two counts and a nice bit of applause from the fans. After some showboating it’s off to Chavo vs. Benjamin. Los Guerreros take over on the arm of Shelton and use better teamwork. Shelton gets in a slam and clothesline on Chavo but Eddie gets in a shot to the back and Los Guerreros take over again.

Chavo chokes him with the tag rope and Eddie gets in some shots on the floor. Slingshot hilo gets two. Off to Haas who gets Eddie into the corner and Shelton uses the rope to choke away as well. Nice little bit of storytelling there. Eddie gets caught in the double team move where Shelton jumps over Charlie and lands on Eddie’s back for two. A pair of suplexes get two for Charlie.

Benjamin comes in with a chinlock and uses a leg lace to keep Eddie in the ring. Shelton comes back in with a kind of powerslam for two. Off to a chinlock as Cole sets up Tazz to explain how Shelton is making this hold more effective. See? Why can’t he do that with Booker and Lawler? Charlie bends Eddie’s back over his knee but Eddie comes out of it with a headscissors in a cool counter.

Hot tag to Chavo and he cleans house. Suplex gets two on Charlie. Shelton powerbombs the tar out of Chavo and everything breaks down. Three Amigos to Charlie but Eddie has to be sent out. Chavo gets a delayed two on Haas so Eddie Frog Splashes him so Chavo can get another two. He tries a suplex to Charlie but Shelton hooks the foot and it’s the Wrestlemania 5 ending as the champions retain.

Rating: B-. Bad ending to a good match here. Like I said, there’s no real need for a story here because you can give four talented guys fifteen minutes and you’re going to get a good match. Tag matches and cruiserweight matches to open a show are great choices. Tag matches with cruiserweight style guys are even better choices. Good stuff here but the ending wasn’t great.

Here’s an unrelated title defense at Vengeance 2003.

Smackdown Tag Titles: Rey Mysterio/Billy Kidman vs. World’s Greatest Tag Team

Rey is Cruiserweight Champion here too. The heels’ name is just great. The fans chant USA for four Americans. Ok then. Haas keeps beating Rey. This is kind of strange to see. Rey was still just the king of the cruiserweights at this point and not yet the A-list guy that he would become better known as. Kidman gets the hot tag and not much happens because of it. The 619 is blocked and my intelligence is spared for a little bit.

Kidman busts out a Shooting Star Press to the floor to take out the champions. The fans think they should worship human waste apparently. Rey gets the other hot tag but the referee is distracted. The crowd boos the heck out of that. Wow I’m surprised they’re so into this one. Hardly a bad thing but very surprising. Rey comes in and cleans house. What kind of an expression is that anyway? Rey isn’t dusting and vacuuming but it makes perfect sense to call it that. What sense does that make?

Haas takes the 619 and the seated senton. Benjamin kicks Rey in the head for two. Solid match here. In a sweet spot, Haas is on top and Kidman launches Rey up to the top for a hurricanrana. AWESOME looking and the crowd loses it when he kicks out. Dragon Whip, which is an awesome name, puts Kidman down. With Kidman on the floor, Benjamin gets a tag that Rey doesn’t see while Rey is on Haas’ shoulders. Benjamin hits a springboard clothesline to combine with the powerbomb for the pin. Sweet ending.

Rating: B+. Very fun and flat out surprising win here. This is what happens when you let guys have time and show off: It flat out works. They were all over the place and got the fans into it. This was the basic idea of letting four talented wrestlers tear the house down and entertain the fans. Great match and fun as all goodness.

Back to Los Guerreros on Smackdown, September 18, 2003.

Smackdown Tag Titles: Los Guerreros vs. World’s Greatest Tag Team

The fans loudly cheer for Eddie who starts with Benjamin. They go to the mat first of course and it’s off to Chavo. This is Chavo’s first match after a torn bicep. The champs take over on Eddie but he fights out of the corner, hitting a belly to belly on Shelton to bring in Chavo. Chavo gets a wicked headscissors to send Benjamin to the floor where Los Guerreros hit stereo dives to take both guys out.

Back with the challengers still in control, beating Charlie down. Eddie gets taken into the wrong corner and double teamed for a bit. It doesn’t last long as he fights out and brings in Chavo. Shelton kicks his head off and Haas works on the bad arm. Northern lights suplex gets two for Shelton.

Back to Haas and the arm work continues. It’s so weird to hear Tazz being professional, talking about his past experience in the ring with the same injury and snapping off intricacies in moves being done. Chavo counters a double team move into a dropkick to Haas and it’s hot tag Eddie. There are Three Amigos but Haas escapes the third and hits a German.

Eddie gets a sweet arm drag/headscissors combo to take both guys down. Frog splash is broken up and the second attempt is rolled through because Haas moved. Haas grabs some chairs but Chavo pops up to take out Shelton with a dropkick into the chair into the knee. The Guerreros hit something that looked like Haas broke his freaking neck. Brainbuster sets up the Frog Splash and we have new champions.

Rating: B-. Pretty solid match here as both teams know each other very well. They would hold the belts for a little while before the Bashams took them. Chavo would turn heel on Eddie but lose at the Rumble before Eddie would win the world title in February. Anyway pretty fun match here and fine for a TV tag title change.

We’ll get away from the titles for a bit with this match at No Way Out 2004.

World’s Greatest Tag Team vs. APA

Bradshaw has a bad arm. Both of these teams would split up in less than six weeks. It’s weird hearing about Heat being on Spike TV. Shelton immediately takes Farrooq down to the mat as it’s technical vs. power here. Wow it’s hard to believe Bradshaw was six months from being world champion and would hold it for the better part of a year.

The heels work over Farrooq’s arm as I guess they want the APA to match. Hot tag finally gets Bradshaw in as I wonder how many of these tags are actually hot. BIG powerbomb from Bradshaw gets two. Farrooq eats post outside as Bradshaw hits a fall away slam off the top on Shelton for two. Clothesline From JBL with the bad arm and Shelton hits a big superkick to end it.

Rating: D+. Another TV level match here that was just ok. Basic power vs. speed match here which wasn’t anything that bad but it wasn’t worth paying to see I wouldn’t think. With both teams splitting so soon after this, the winners due to the Draft and Farrooq retiring, this wasn’t really of any importance at all. Not bad though, but I could see this same match on a house show probably.

One last shot at the titles at Wrestlemania XX.

Smackdown Tag Titles: Too Cool vs. Basham Brothers vs. World’s Greatest Tag Team vs. APA

That would be Scotty and Rikishi who are defending coming in. One fall to a finish again. Bradshaw and Shelton start things off with the Texan taking him down with a shoulder and getting two off an elbow drop. Doug Basham comes in to beat up Shelton now and it’s off to Danny. Shelton tags in Haas for a slam onto Haas’ knee in a cool spot. Scotty comes in to fight Charlie as this is going nowhere.

In another creative spot, Scotty skins the cat but lands in the Shelton jumps over Charlie’s back to land on Scotty for two. Charlie tags off to Doug for a kick to Scotty’s face. The hot tag brings in Rikishi to clean house and knocks Shelton to the floor to break up the German suplex. Charlie gets a Stinkface and Bradshaw launches Doug to the floor with a fallaway slam. There’s the Clothesline to Danny but Bradshaw walks into a Samoan Drop. Rikishi sits on Danny to end it and retain.

Rating: D. Whatever man. Seriously, I wouldn’t have remembered this match if you put a gun to my head, just like with the other tag title match. They’re just not interesting at all and there was nothing here to remember at all. There needed to be just one set of tag belts at this point and these matches make it painfully obvious.

The team would be broken up by the Brand Split with Haas staying on Smackdown and Benjamin going to Raw. The team would finally get back together in late 2006 so we’ll pick things up at New Year’s Revolution 2007 with the team in a Tag Team Turmoil match.

Tag Team Turmoil

The idea here is a gauntlet match where you have two teams start and they have a match, then the winners face the next team. This was a bonus match that was thrown on so this is really just to fill in time. The winners get a future tag title shot. There are five teams in this and the first two are the Highlanders and the World’s Greatest Tag Team.

Roddy Piper has cancer here, which is a point as the Highlanders are also from Scotland. The WGTT are Benjamin and Haas for those of you that aren’t familiar with them. They really were good. Rory shows off his wrestling abilities and outmoves Shelton. That’s pretty impressive actually. Their names are Rory and Robbie in case you didn’t know that either.

After a bit of a brawl we have Shelton hooking a superplex from the top rope to put the Highlanders out. Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Jim Duggan are a team here. Why’s that? I have no idea at all but it was a flat out terrible time for the tag belts back in the day so there you are. This one is far shorter as Duggan does most of the work and gets beaten down before getting a hot tag after about a minute or two.

Crazy comes in and cleans house but the Mexican gets a German suplex from the American for the pin. And people say WWE isn’t international. Cade and Murdoch are in next. They would soon become the flavor of the month in the tag division, meaning no one cared about them but they were pushed anyway as there was no one else around at all to do it otherwise.

They slow it down a lot here and take it to the mat with the rednecks dominating. That makes sense at least as we have the WGTT in trouble here. They were ok I guess but I never really could get into them. Vince had a deep infatuation with rednecks and hillbillies over the years though. Not quite to musclemen levels but close enough. Haas gets Murdoch in the Haas of Pain which was always awesome but Cade jumps him off the top to break it up and get the pin.

Crime Time, the hot team at the moment comes out to a great pop. JTG just bleeds charisma. He’s talented too so I’d pick him as the more talented of the two. Lawler actually has some information as these are the final two teams in this shindig. The heels are dominating early on here if you can call this early on. More or less at this point it’s just a regular tag team which is ok I guess.

Shad gets the hot tag and cleans ring. This was back when the team was interesting and funny rather than being the only face team on the roster and therefore over by requirement. They hit their assisted neckbreaker on Cade to win it. They never used the title shot as they were released a bit before it.

Rating: C. It ran for a bit too long but seeing four actual teams out there is a nice sign. This was ok but nothing great though. The pacing was fine though and it wasn’t bad at all for a gimmick match. This was meant to fill in time and it did its job rather well indeed. If nothing else, you can see how bad the tag team division is at this point.

The team would feud with the also reunited Hardys, including this match at One Night Stand 2007.

Raw Tag Titles: Hardys vs. World’s Greatest Tag Team

This should be awesome. Hardys are champions coming in. Big brawl to start but that’s the point of this match I suppose. Haas takes down both Hardys with a double clothesline and here come the ladders. All four have ladders so the Hardys throw theirs at their opponents’ and put a pair in corners. Haas gets buried under a pair of ladders in the corner and Shelton is pushed on top of them.

The Hardys start being the Hardys in a ladder match and dominate quickly but make a mental mistake (the Hardys? Nah) and both go up at once, only for Shelton to toss a ladder at them and take over. They work on Jeff’s leg and send him into a ladder in the corner so softly that the fans boo it. When do you EVER hear of a spot being booed in a ladder match? Haas and Benjamin both go up but they have the same issue the Hardys had and we all come down again.

Shelton dropkicks a ladder into Matt’s face and the World’s Greatest Tag Team takes over all over again. They set up a pair of ladders in a sea-saw pattern and according to rule 2 of ladder matches, they both get slammed onto it. Here come the Hardys again and a double clothesline takes everyone not named Shelton to the floor. The Hardys bring in the huge ladders and set one between the ring and the railing.

Shelton blocks a suplex through said ladder though, until Matt backdrops Shelton onto a ladder which he just bounces off. The ladder is bent and Jeff isn’t happy. He thinks to himself by George (and bonds. Pills. Maybe some cocaine too. My band’s album because no one else will) I want him to go through that ladder but Haas makes a last second save.

Matt takes Charlie down and goes up himself, only to get shoved onto the top rope. You know the move Haas and Benjamin do where Haas holds a guy up on the top and Shelton jumps on his back? Well here they use a ladder instead of a rope and Shelton jumps to the floor onto Matt’s back and more or less destroys it in an awesome looking spot. Charlie goes up but here’s your friendly resident drug addict (Jeff in case you thought Matt got up that fast) for a superplex off the ladder to the mat.

Everyone is down now and Jeff has a glazed over look in his eye. In other words, everything is normal with him. In one of the best accidental spots I’ve ever seen, Shelton tries to springboard from the apron to the ladder to stop Jeff but slips and flips forward, kicking the ladder over. JR actually does a decent job of making it sound intentional. Matt shoves Shelton off and starts climbing up two ladders at once. Everyone goes up and it’s a four way fight. The Hardys go down but maintain enough composure to shove their opponents off. Swanton kills Haas and Matt gets the belts to retain.

Rating: B+. Pretty good tag team ladder match here as they let all four guys go in there and just do their thing which is the right idea more often than not. Also they had time (seventeen minutes) here which helped a lot as well. Very hard hitting match here as they managed to make the older spots look good again. Rather good match and not much to complain about at all here.

After splitting throughout 2008, the team would briefly reunited in 2009, including this match on Smackdown, May 29, 2009.

World’s Greatest Tag Team vs. Cryme Tyme

For those of you who forget, this would be Charlie Haas/Shelton Benjamin vs. JTG/Shad Gaspard in a match set up because Cryme Tyme cost the other two a match last night on Superstars. Charlie and JTG get things going with Charlie quickly taking it to the mat and pounding away. JTG comes back with a quick Fameasser for two before bringing in Shad for some big generic power. Shad charges into a pair of knees in the corner and it’s off to Benjamin for a slugout.

Shelton tries a go behind but Shad easily powers him into the corner before taking Shelton down with a shoulder block. Gaspard launches JTG onto Shelton in a splash for two but Haas interference lets the actually challenging team take over. We take a break and come back with Charlie getting two before bringing Benjamin back in. Oh and before I forget: Haas and Benjamin are officially “the team formerly known as the World’s Greatest Tag Team.” I for one certainly care am more interested in them now.

Shelton hooks on a neck crank for a few moments before it’s back off to Charlie. He drives some knees into JTG’s shoulder while talking a lot of trash. Back to Shelton who pounds away in the corner but misses a splash. JTG goes for a tag but gets caught in a sweet German suplex for two. Charlie comes in again but gets kicked in the knee and taken down with a spinning clothesline, allowing for the hot tag to Shad. A big powerslam gets two on Shelton as everything breaks down. Benjamin counters a backdrop and hits Paydirt (jumping downward spiral) for the pin on Shad.

Rating: D+. At the end of the day, Cryme Tyme sucked and there isn’t much else to it. The guys just weren’t that talented or interesting at all and it really started to show. How JTG is still employed in the year 2013 is beyond me, especially given that Shelton and Charlie didn’t make it to the end of 2010.

After some time on the indies, Haas and Benjamin went over to ROH in late 2010. Here they are on ROH TV, September 24, 2011.

Tag Titles: Kings of Wrestling vs. Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team

Each time someone comes to the ring they get streamers thrown at them. It’s annoying but I guess it’s something to get used to. The Kings are Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli. The champs (Haas/Benjamin) took the belts from them after the Kings held them forever. This is the first match in 24 minutes, meaning 40% of this show had zero wrestling on it due to highlight packages. That would be like 48 minutes without wrestling on Raw. Oh wait WE HAVE A COMMERCIAL BEFORE THE BELL.

There’s the bell and it’s been 27 minutes since the last match ended, or 54 minutes in Raw time. Haas vs. Hero to start us off. How did a guy like Haas get Jackie Gayda? Off to Nigel quickly so maybe he started and I wasn’t paying enough attention. Haas counters a few hip tosses and takes Claudio down with arm drags. This is match #4 in their series and the champs are 2-1 so far.

Blind tag brings in Benjamin and he hits a top rope clothesline to take over. Off to hero who gets caught in a small package for two. Hero sells a lot and things start to break down. Benjamin can’t hit the dragon whip and the Kings take over with nefarious means. Benjamin is thrown outside and Hero hits a baseball slide to take him out again. We take a break and come back with Claudio holding a headlock and hitting a powerslam for two.

Benjamin tries the tag and hits Dragon Whip this time but Hero pulls Haas off the apron. Charlie comes in and lets Hero hit an elbow to the back of the head for two. Off to Hero (Claudio got the two) and Hero hits a senton backsplash for two. Benjamin counters a double suplex into a double neckbreaker and there’s a leaping hot tag. Roaring Elbow by Hero is countered into a German and Claudio takes a T-Bone for two.

A rana and a big boot gets the same. Haas gets taken down and another elbow called the KTFO (you figure it out) gets two for Hero. Was there a tag there? The third spinning forearm/elbow (WE GET IT ALREADY) sets up a giant swing by Claudio as we go back to the 70s. The Kings set for their finisher (KRS 1) but it’s broken up by Benjamin. A hot shot sets up the thing where Shelton jumps over Charlie to land on the other dude’s back and a Hart Attack ends this at 16:48.

Rating: B-. Not bad here but dude, this was the best they could do? This is supposed to be the big and epic tag team division that is the best in the world? It’s not bad but it’s certainly not a classic or anything at all. I’ve definitely seen better stuff on Raw or Smackdown this year. I saw a match live that was better than this and I can’t even remember who were partnering with Orton and Christian.

And again on ROH TV, November 5, 2011.

Caprice Coleman/Cedric Alexander vs. Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team

This is one of those Proving Ground matches, meaning if the champions (Haas and Benjamin) lose, Coleman and Alexander get a title shot in something 60 days. There’s a 15 minute time limit here. Alexander has the blonde mowhawk. Got it. Coleman vs. Benjamin starts us off. Benjamin works on the arm to start and Coleman can’t get anything going. He’s trying though so give him some points for that. Coleman manages to send him to the corner and gets a surprised look from Shelton.

Off to Haas vs. Alexander who is a bit more physical than his partner. Benjamin gets a blind tag in and kicks Alexander down for two. The champs have never really been in trouble at all. Haas works over the knee as we take a break. Back with Alexander fighting out of something by Benjamin but Shelton kicks him down with ease. Haas works on a leg lock but eventually walks into a bad tornado DDT.

We’re over ten minutes in now if this is in real time. Double tag brings in Coleman and Benjamin who is taken down by a leg lariat for two. We have less than four minutes according to Kelly. The non-champions speed things up and hit a double dropkick to send Haas into the barricade. Three minutes left. Their clock is about 10 seconds off but it’s close enough. There’s a double powerbomb to Coleman and we’re done at 12:55.

Rating: C. Uh…so? The champions beat the newcomers with their finishing move. Is this supposed to be surprising in a way or something? If Coleman and Alexander were worth something they would be on the roster already. Not a bad match or anything but it’s not like anything changes now or in the future. I don’t mean it hurt anything but it didn’t change things at all.

One last match at ROH Border Wars 2012.

Tag Titles: Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team vs. Brisco Brothers

The Briscos (defending) are Mark and Jay and have no relation to Jack and Jerry Briscoe. This is fight without honor, meaning it’s a street fight. It’s also unsanctioned, although it can somehow be for the promotion’s tag titles. There’s no Mark Brisco to start so apparently Jay is going to try to do this on his own. Actually, cue Mark in hockey gear with some stick shots to the back of Haas’ head. The brawl is on as the referee has to get rid of those stupid streamers.

Mark hits Haas in the throat with the hockey stick and the Briscos clean house. With the challengers on the floor and the announcer doing the intros, Mark dives on both guys as the brawl really gets going. Back in and the Briscos double team Benjamin as this has been one sided so far. Charlie pulls Shelton to the floor, only to be caught by a double baseball slide from the champions.

Shelton has a chair thrown onto his back as it’s kind of hard to keep track of the insanity. Back in and Haas gets an exploder suplex for two on Jay before choking him with his shirt. Haas charges at him, only to be caught in a downward spiral right into a chair wedged between the ropes. Shelton comes back in (there aren’t any tags in this) and blasts Jay down, only to have Mark save him from a chair shot. We go back to the floor where Jay catapults Charlie face first into the post as the champions continue to dominate.

Haas is busted open as Mark hits a running swanton off the apron onto Benjamin. An attempt at a second one misses (kind of?) but Mark brings in a wheel from a wheelchair. Jay pounds on Charlie in the ring as Mark goes up, only to be flipped off the top and through a table at ringside. A jawbreaker hits Jay but he comes back with a Death Valley Driver on Shelton. Jay goes up but gets distracted by Haas, allowing Shelton to run up the corner and suplex him down.

Shelton hits a spinebuster off the top for two on Jay as the challengers take over for the first time. Mark tries to come back in with the hockey stick but gets knocked back into the barricade. Charlie and Shelton try to crotch Jay on the post again but Mark makes the save. Mark starts cleaning house and flips Charlie off the top followed by a top rope elbow for two. Jay sends Benjamin to the floor as the fans want tables. Naturally ask and you will receive, as Jay sets one up on the floor.

Jay and Shelton brawl on the apron with Jay loading up something on his hand, only to have Shelton load up a German off the apron. Jay holds on to avoid a nasty case of death, only to hook an electric chair drop to send Jay through the table. Back in the ring Charlie sprays something on a rag and chokes Mark out with it for the pin and titles. It appeared to be ether or something like that.

Rating: B-. This was a pretty solid brawl and pretty easily the match of the night to this point. It’s not a great match or anything like that and the ending came out of nowhere, but it goes along with the no honor thing. This doesn’t come off like a match ending a feud, but then again this isn’t the biggest show of the year or anything so it’s understandable. Good match but that’s about it.

Haas and Benjamin were a very good tag team and maybe the top team of their era. Their best days were at the beginning but they had some solid efforts later on when they were on their various reunion tours. Unfortunately they were stuck with an AWFUL group of teams around them and became yet another big fish in a small pond, which happened far too often to tag teams in the 2000s. Check them out though if you like precision tag teams that seem to think as one.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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These were supposed to start on Sunday but as anyone who frequents my site knows, I can’t keep track of anything to save my life.  I’ll be catching up with four awards today and then do one a day every day until the end of the year.  We’ll start with one of the more popular ones with Feud of the Year.This year isn’t one of the stronger set of choices as there were some good feuds but nothing that felt really epic.  One of the first options that comes to mind is Ambrose vs. Rollins, who had some AMAZING promos and good but not great brawls.  The ending here hurts it as it was more about Wyatt being introduced for no apparent reason than the feud itself.  This can be done perfectly (see 1997 with Undertaker vs. Kane), but Wyatt came out of nowhere and the match was nowhere near HBK vs. Undertaker in the Cell.  This is probably the clubhouse leader but not by much.

Shield vs. Evolution was good and the matches were excellent but I’m not sure I’d call it the best of the year.  It felt more like a way to turn Rollins heel and end the Shield than to have a big moment, which is fine but a bit anti-climactic.  That’s kind of a running problem this year and something we’ll see again.

The same is true for the Wyatts vs. Shield.  THey had what might be the Match of the Year at Elimination Chamber but the feud just kind of stopped instead of having a big conclusion.  I’d put Shield vs. Evolution ahead of this as it actually had a conclusion, albeit not a great one.

AJ Lee vs. Paige deserves some appreciation due to making the Divas Title actually matter, but it went on so long that it really stopped meaning anything to me after awhile.

TNA actually makes the list with the Wolves vs. Hardys vs. Team 3D and their outstanding series, but I’m not sure it was so much a feud as much as a rivalry.  There was never a personal issue between the teams and that hurts it to me.  That being said, there’s a case that they had the best series of matches all year, including Shield.

That really leaves us with one option, which while short met every issue that I listed here.  Of course it’s Bryan vs. the Authority, which was a rollercoaster of emotion with the fans screaming for what they wanted until it FINALLY delivered in one of the best one night performances you’ll ever see at Wrestlemania XXX.  They set the stage and gave us the payoff with some great matches.  What else can you really ask for in a feud?  Yeah it was short in this year, but it ran about eight months from beginning to end.  The moment Bryan made Batista tap was worth everything and the energy in the Super Dome that night was amazing.

Impact Wrestling
Date: December 10, 2014
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz
Hosts: Christy Hemme, Jeremy Borash

It’s week two of the Best of 2014 which means we should be getting the Tag Team Title series, which is pretty easily the best thing that happened all year in the company. Unfortunately TNA cut so much out of the matches last week that you could barely get to the good parts and I can’t imagine anything else this week. Let’s get to it.

Just like last week, I’ll be posting the full versions of the matches, even though they’re clipped on the broadcast.

After a quick intro, we get right to the tag teams starting on Impact, July 31.

Tag Team Titles: Hardys vs. Wolves

Wolves are defending. Eddie and Matt crank arm work to start as the fans are split. The champions take over but Matt sends Richards into the corner to take over. Off to Jeff as the Hardys start working over Davey’s arm. A double suplex gets two and it’s back to a wristlock from Matt. Richards finally gets in a shot to the head and makes a tag off to Edwards to clean house.

A double hurricanrana puts both Hardys on the floor, setting up a double suicide dive to keep the champions in control. Back in and Eddie enziguris Jeff into a German suplex from Davey for two. Matt saves his brother from a double suplex before the Wolves are thrown outside. Poetry In Motion over the top puts everyone down before a regular one hits Eddie in the corner.

The Side Effect sets up the Swanton but Richards sends Jeff outside before a cover. Matt gets two off a moonsault to Edwards before both Hardys put on Ice Picks (double underhook guillotine chokes). Davey breaks Jeff’s hold and makes the save before sending him crashing to the floor.

The kick to Matt’s chest sets up the double double stomp for two on Matt. Back up and a Twist of Fate gets two on Davey and a backslide gets the same for Richards. Jeff is still down, allowing the Wolves to hit their powerbomb/top robe Backstabber for the pin on Matt at 10:08.

Rating: B. This was good but not great. The tagging part went away a few minutes into the match but that’s probably the best thing all around. I didn’t know who was going to win here and that’s a very good thing considering how this could have gone. The Hardys still looked good and Matt hasn’t looked like this in years.

Here’s the main event from that same show.

TNA World Title: Austin Aries vs. Bobby Lashley

Bobby is defending and it’s a staredown to start. Aries goes to the leg to start but it’s a very slow opening. More kicks have Lashley in trouble and Austin wraps his leg around the ropes for even more kicks. A dropkick to the back sends Lashley to the floor but his dive is caught in midair for a belly to belly suplex as we take a break. Back with Lashley taking over and putting on a reverse bearhug.

Aries fights up but gets caught in a regular bearhug. Austin escapes again but gets caught in a nice gorilla press drop. The Dominator is countered with a discus forearm and a series of regular forearms in the corner. Lashley is sent to the floor and Aries hits the top rope ax handle, setting up a missile dropkick back inside. The corner dropkick is caught in the Dominator though (sweet counter) but the spear is countered into the Last Chancery.

Lashley fights out and lifts Aries for a suplex but just throws Aries forward. Another spear attempt misses and there’s the discus forearm to send Lashley back into the corner. The running drokick sets up the brainbuster but Lashley is up at two. Lashley rolls away to avoid the 450 but Aries misses the suicide dive. Back in and the spear retains Lashley’s title at 16:28.

Rating: B-. Good match here as Lashley piles up another hero. This is basic wrestling booking as we’re waiting on the hero to rise up and take the title back to the good side. Lashley is little more than a dragon, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good story. Nice match here too with Aries playing the hero really well.

We recap Sanada turning on Great Muta after falling under the influence of James Storm as well as the formation of the Revolution.

From the “biggest show of the year”, here’s the main event of Bound For Glory.

Great Sanada/James Storm vs. Tajiri/Great Muta

Storm gives a great speech about turning one of Japan’s own against them. That little bit of storyline actually felt really refreshing. Muta sprays mist to start and gets things going with Sanada. They fight over a leglock on the mat until Muta comes up and works on the arm. It’s back down to the mat and Sanada sprays Mist at Muta but only hits air. Off to Tajiri vs. Storm with James taking a bunch of kicks. Tajiri grabs the beard but it’s quickly back to Sanada, only to have him get low bridged out to the floor.

Sanada kicks Tajiri to the floor and then under the ring as things slow WAY down. Tajiri has taken mist off camera and is blinded back inside. Storm and Sanada start slowly double teaming as we’re waiting on the hot tag to Muta. A dropkick gets two for Sanada and we hit the nerve hold.

Back up and Sanada pulls out a white stick of some kind of nail Tajiri again. Tajiri comes right back with a kick and tags in Muta to clean house. Muta hammers on Sanada and drops an elbow for two, only to get caught in Closing Time. Storm drops a top rope elbow and Sanada’s moonsault gets two. Everything breaks down and Storm is backdropped to the floor. Tajiri superkicks Sanada down and it’s a double mist and the Shining Wizard to give Muta the pin at 10:50.

Rating: D+. I just sat through this whole show for an eleven minute main event. Storm not taking the pin is a good thing, but it’s not like this match means anything at the end of the day. However, there’s one thing that stands out above all this: at the end of the day, the two oldest guys on the show stood tall to end the show. Some things never change.

We see the end of Roode vs. Lashley I on Impact from September 17.

Time for the Hardcore War on August 7’s Impact. We pick it up right before the last man enters but here’s the whole match.

Ethan Carter III/Rhino/Rycklon Stephens/Gene Snitsky vs. Team 3D/Tommy Dreamer/???

This is a hardcore war but entrances are staggered every 90 seconds and the win can’t take place until the last man enters. It’s Carter vs. Dreamer to get things going and both have weapons. They quickly head outside with Dreamer’s knees being sent into the steps. Back in and Dreamer hits a quick suplex with a Singapore cane before driving in a bunch of right hands in the corner. Rhino comes in to make it 2-1 and nails Dreamer with the trashcan lid. A bad looking spinebuster sets up some cane shots but D-Von ties things up with a trashcan. D-Von takes over with a few shots of his own and we take a break.

Back with Snitsky giving the Carters an advantage (and looking to weigh about 400lbs) until Bully Ray runs out to even things up again and clean house. Ray looks up at Dixie and Mo as the ECW guys keep dominating. Stephens comes in to complete Team Dixie and clean house with a chair. The heels destroy everyone until the big mystery partner is Al Snow.

The fans want Head (and have a bunch of mannequin heads of course) as Al beats up everyone again. Ray nails a top rope cross body (didn’t look bad either) to take out the mercenaries. Spud tries to make a save but gets What’s Up from Head. Snow moonsaults onto every heel not named Rhino as this just keeps going. Not that it matters as 3D ends Rhino at 17:37.

Rating: D+. This was just WarGames minus the cage and a lot of the talent. There wasn’t much to see here and Al Snow was about as uninteresting of a partner as there could have been. Also, I didn’t need a second hardcore match in an hour but this show is an ECW tribute show anymore so you have to have it.

From later in the same show.

Here’s all of Dixie’s team but she fires Stephens and Snitsky like the maniac she is. Cue Team 3D and Dreamer with a table but Dixie hides behind everyone she’s paid off. Ray promises to put Dixie through a table and Dreamer says Dixie is everything that’s wrong with this business. Mo nails Dreamer and the brawl is on with the ECW guys taking over. Suddenly Dixie is alone in the ring with 3D but runs when she’s about to take 3D.

Spud swears it’s never going to happen but the entire locker room comes out to throw Dixie to the wolves (Team 3D, not Richards/Edwards). D-Von loads her up (and grabs her in a rather personal spot) and Bully powerbombs Dixie off the middle rope through the table, in what I believe was Dixie’s first bump ever. We even get Bully’s old euphoric look and the announcers are WAY too happy to see this.

I’m not sure how I feel about this. I have no problem with a heel, male or female, taking a big bump to end a story. What I’m not wild on is how everything was announced in advance. This is going to cause some issues in the mainstream media given how violent it was, but that’s the nature of pro wrestling. It felt very scripted though and that’s not a good thing, but the ending was exactly what it should have been.

From August 20. Here are the Hardys to talk about wanting to become the top team in tag team wrestling again. They’re back because the fans want them to be, but they need Team 3D out here right now. Bully asks if the Hardys know who they are and the fans want to see them fight one more time. Ray knows both teams want to be Tag Team Champions, meaning they need the Wolves out here right now. Cue the Wolves for the required “we respect you” speech. They’re willing to put up the titles anytime and anywhere.

We see the end of the X-Division Title match on August 7.

From Bound For Glory.

X-Division Title: Samoa Joe vs. Kaz Hayashi vs. Low Ki

Joe is defending. Hayashi is probably best known in America as a low level cruiserweight guy about fourteen years ago. Ki takes over to start but Joe crushes both guys in the corner and kicks Kaz in the head. There’s the chop to Hayashi’s back but he fires off right hands to the champ’s face and knocks Joe to the floor. The fans are behind Low Ki as he kicks both guys down and gets two on Joe. Both challengers head to the floor and get taken out by a big dive as we see the crowd sitting still yet chanting at the same time.

Back in and Low Ki chops at Joe but the champ busts out his powerbomb into the crab into the STF until Hayashi remembers he’s in this match and puts Joe in a Crossface without breaking the hold on Ki. Hayashi hits a kind of Zig Zag for two on Joe with Ki making the save. A quick Warrior’s Way gets two on Kaz and they head outside so Joe can nail a double dive. Back in and Kaz charges into a Rock Bottom out of the corner but Low Ki breaks up the MuscleBuster. That earns him a Koquina Clutch and Ki passes out to retain Joe’s title at 10:30.

Rating: C+. Not bad for the most part here but it didn’t mean anything for the most part. This was the same three way style match TNA has done a dozen times with Hayashi just being a warm body to fill out the match. The fact that the winner was already spoiled with the TV tapings didn’t help either.

We see Joe vacating the X-Division Title, followed by Low Ki winning it on November 19.

Time for the girls on September 4 (it was the 3^rd but whatever).

Knockouts Title: Gail Kim vs. Taryn Terrell

Gail is defending and quickly takes her down to start. A rollup gets two for Terrell and a middle rope clothesline gets the same. Gail comes right back with a top rope hurricanrana, followed by a DDT on the arm. She misses the charge in the corner though and falls out to the floor. Taryn loads up the steps but gets caught in a neckbreaker onto the steel which knocks both girls silly. Back in and Eat Defeat gets two, followed by an RKO for the same for Taryn. Gail is staggered so Terrell goes up for a high cross body, only to have Gail roll through to retain at 6:00.

Rating: C+. The match was decent but the fans chanting THIS IS AWESOME shows how lame womens’ wrestling has been lately. It was entertaining but awesome is a stretch to put it mildly. This was miles beneath the stuff they did a year or so ago but it still wasn’t bad. The division is pretty horrible anymore though as there’s barely a division to speak of.

We might get a solution to that here though as Havok debuts and destroys Taryn with White Noise and Gail with a one arm chokeslam.

Havok would win the title soon thereafter.

We see Taryn Terrell winning the title in a moment that didn’t mean as much as they wanted it to on November 19.

You knew this was coming. From October 8.

Tag Team Titles: Hardys vs. Team 3D vs. Wolves

The Wolves are defending and this is Full Metal Mayhem, meaning TLC. Richards has a somewhat bad leg coming into this but he seems to be fine. It’s a big brawl to start of course with Matt hitting what looked like the Side Effect to Eddie on the apron. Bully hammers on Jeff on the floor as weapons are being sets up on the floor. Matt goes for a climb but Ray comes in for a save with a Rock Bottom.

Davey breaks up Ray’s attempt and DDTs him, only to have D-Von nail Richards a second later. Matt gets enziguried into a German suplex onto a pair of open chairs. Eddie throws Jeff into the air and Ray catches him in a Cutter for a 3D. They chop it out but Matt is back up to take both guys down. We get the Tower of Doom with Ray electric chairing Matt who superplexes Edwards. D-Von bridges a piece of barricade between the apron and some overturned steps but Davey headbutts him onto the barricade.

Ray saves his partner from a dive and powerbombs Richards down, only to miss a middle rope backsplash. He comes right back with another powerbomb to send Richards onto the barricade, giving Richards one of the most shocked looks I’ve ever seen. Back with Jeff taking a ladder to the face and D-Von cleans house with a chair.

Richards comes back with a chair of his own but this time it’s Jeff popping up to take over. The Whisper in the Wind and Swanton have Ray in trouble but he pops right back up for a brawl with Jeff on the floor. The Twisting Stunner has Ray in trouble and Jeff brings out another table. He bridges it between the turned over steps and the apron with the legs up. Jeff misses the legdrop though and crashes through the table, leaving him in a huge heap on the floor.

Back in and Ray goes up, only to have Edwards set up a ladder of his own next to it. Bully kicks him down but Matt comes in with a ladder of his own. All three go up and slug it out with Edwards getting slammed off the top. Mat and Ray grab for the belts but send them swinging around before knocking each other off with Matt flying into a ladder.

Davey and Matt slug it out with Hardy getting the better of it and bringing in another table. Everyone heads outside again with Matt climbing about halfway up a huge ladder to legdrop Davey through a table. Richards has taken one heck of a beating here. D-Von cleans house with the ladder and brings in the big ladder to make thing even more fun. Team 3D loads up What’s Up but Edwards shoves D-Von to the floor.

Davey goes up the big ladder but gets shoved onto the floor and head first into the barricade. The Hardys make another save with chairs and put Ray on two tables. Jeff goes up top of the big ladder but Davey shoves it over, sending Hardy into a HUGE splash onto Ray for a horrible looking crash. Davey and Matt slug it out on top of the ladder but Edwards makes a save and powerbombs Matt through a table, allowing Davey to take down the belts for the win at 23:52.

Rating: A. I came into this show thinking this match wasn’t going to be able to live up to its hype and they got me. This was an AWESOME match with a ton of high spots and some insane looking bumps. The fact that they didn’t save this for Bound For Glory shows you just how much they don’t care about that show this year. Excellent match and one of the best things TNA has done in years.

We see like a minute of Roode beating Lashley on October 29. The celebration gets more time than the match.

Next week: we start counting down the top twenty moments in Impact history. That could be interesting. We’re off the air at 10:58 again.

Overall Rating: B. WAY better this week as they actually showed the good stuff (well for the most part at least) that TNA did this year. It’s far from perfect with the matches being clipped to death and a lot of stuff being shown that didn’t need to be there (Bound For Glory main event for example) but they focused on the best stuff and made me look forward to the series continuing. When TNA has their head on straight and stops trying to reinvent the wheel, they can be a very entertaining show.

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Today we’re looking at an old school style worker in Trevor Murdoch.

Murdoch got his start in 1999 as part of the “comedy” team the Dupps. Here they are at TNA Weekly PPV #4.

The Dupps vs. The Flying Elvises

The Dupps are country boys named Bo and Stan (Trevor Murdoch) and the Flying Elvises are Sonny Siaki and Jorge Estrada, both of whom you don’t really need to know. Brawl to start and the Dupps sloppily clean house to control early. Mortimer Plumtree comes out for commentary for no apparent reason. Siaki and Stan start things off with Stan in full control. Off to Bo with a shoulder and legdrop for two. Siaki tries to speed things up but gets caught in an Alabama Slam out of the corner.

Mortimer is trying to come up with suspects for the attack on AMW last week which is the most interesting part of the match. Some Elvis cheating gives them control and it’s off to Estrada. After getting in a bit of trouble, Estrada comes back with a split legged moonsault for no cover. Off to Stan who cleans house and kills Estrada with a full nelson slam. Apparently that’s not worthy of selling because Estrada hits a pumphandle throw and a twisting springboard swanton for the pin on Stan.

Rating: D. There was nothing to see here at all. I have no idea who I was supposed to cheer for here and neither team gave me a reason to care about either one of them. This is the kind of filler match that I was talking about in the intro: it’s not horrible or anything, but there’s nothing interesting at all here and I don’t think anyone cared about any of these guys at all.

We’ll jump ahead to Murdoch as an everyman country boy in WWE at Unforigven 2005.

Raw Tag Titles: Lance Cade/Trevor Murdoch vs. Rosey/The Hurricane

The heroes are defending. Earlier today the southern boys say they’ve beaten the champions before and they’ll do it again. Cade and Murdoch are a brand new team, forming like ten days before this. Naturally they’re the #1 contenders. You can see a bunch of fans going to get popcorn during this one. Hurricane vs. Cade gets us going and the champs clear the ring quickly. Hurricane headscissors Murdoch to the floor as we talk about country music.

Hurricane hits a missile dropkick and it’s off to Rosey. Lawler points out the stupidity of having a place that loves country music asked to boo a pair of country boys. Cade takes over on Rosey as Murdoch goes to hit on Lillian. Well to her credit she looks great tonight. Hurricane saves her but Murdoch gets a SICK elevated DDT to the floor on storm boy.

Rosey takes over but misses a splash in the corner to put him down. We finally get a trainer down here as the match falls apart. Cade cheats some on the floor as Hurricane is carried out. Like an idiot he comes back and tags in, only to get clotheslined a few seconds later for the pin.

Rating: D. Isn’t this what Raw is for? The tag titles were far less valuable back then than they are now and the country boys would break up like a month later. This was nothing but that DDT on the floor looked great. This was probably better than most tag title matches around this time, but it was still terribly uninteresting which might as well be printed on the belts.

Time for a defense at Taboo Tuesday 2005.

Raw Tag Titles: Lance Cade/Trevor Murdoch vs. Big Show/Kane

Few quick notes here. Joey says they’re two tough Texans but are billed from Nashville. Also Lillian says they weigh 501. Not 501 pounds but just 501, as in she said five oh one. Not even five hundred and one. Just weird. Show has a beard here and Lillian slips up on HIS intro too. What is going on here? Murdoch starts with Kane and isn’t happy about it.

This is one sided so far and now I’d expect that to change just as I say it. Murdoch kicks Show a bit and that doesn’t work in the slightest. Can Show do anything other than chop? Kane goes for a big boot and somehow manages to hit Cade in the lower back. How are there so many mistakes in one single show? Murdoch shoves Kane to the floor off the top to finally give the champions an advantage.

Kane gets beaten down for awhile and then sits up just because he can. The champions just can’t threaten Show and Kane in the slightest. Show comes in to a lukewarm tag and after some domination, a double chokeslam to Cade ends this. Show gets interviewed afterwards but has to stop for a double chokeslam on Murdoch for fun.

Rating: D+. The lack of drama really hurt this as it was painfully obvious that the titles were changing. Like Kane and Show had any chance of losing here. I mean really did you expect otherwise? This was one of the staples of the show but it became pretty clear nothing would happen from it. Their reign lasted like 5 months and the next reign after theirs would end at the next one in this series.

We’ll jump ahead a bit to a match with better opponents on Raw, October 2, 2006.

D–Generation X vs. Lance Cade/Trevor Murdoch/Highlanders/Viscera/Charlie Haas

This is under Texas Tornado rules. Everyone rushes the ring and are pretty easily dispatched. This is exactly what you would expect: DX dominates and barely breaks a sweat. Top rope elbow hits Charlie, Chin Music, Pedigree, done in about two and a half minutes.

Off to Cyber Sunday 2006.

Cryme Tyme vs. Viscera/Charlie Haas vs. The Highlanders vs. Lance Cade/Trevor Murdoch

The options are Texas Tornado, Fatal Fourway or Tag Team Turmoil with the insane one winning. Texas Tornado means everyone is in the ring at the same time. No titles or anything but rather just a match to fill out the card. Tornado gets half the vote and it’s a big mess. I remember Viscera and Charlie as a team but have no idea why. This is a total mess of course.

Who would imagine that JTG would be the only one left in the company at this point and that Viscera is the most famous name in this match somehow. I’m not even going to try to keep track of what’s going on here as it’s a free for all. JTG and Charlie are the only ones in the ring. Great German suplex by Haas to take over but they’re replaced almost immediately by Shad and Viscera.

Shad has been arrested 23 times for assault. The Highlanders get rid of the fat man as Cade and Murdoch take over. And then JTG hits a kick to end it. Sure whatever. They dance on the announce table after the match and teach JR the handshake. And there goes King’s laptop. Racial stereotyping FTW! Yes I said FTW.

Rating: D. Total mess here with no flow or story in sight but that was the idea I guess. It was just a big disaster with everyone all over the place. It was to put Cryme Tyme over but of course they never wound up doing anything. They would get fired sooner or later here but I’m not sure when. It’s not like it matters or anything so whatever.

Back to TV on Raw, April 23, 2007 for a singles match.

Matt Hardy vs. Trevor Murdoch

The Hardys are Raw tag champions. Todd Grisham is doing ring announcing for no apparent reason. Murdoch takes him into the corner easily and throws on a headlock. Matt comes back with a fist drop for two. He goes up but gets pulled off the middle rope as Murdoch takes over again. Off to a sleeper but Matt breaks it up and hits a forearm. Side Effect gets two. A middle rope Fameasser gets two and Cade pops up on the apron for a distraction. Murdoch hits what was supposed to be a Canadian Destroyer for the pin.

Rating: D. This didn’t click at all. Jeff was at ringside but didn’t do a thing at all. There wasn’t much to see here as it was a short match on top of being bad. Murdoch was pretty good at times but at other times he was your old Texas cowboy kind of guy which isn’t interesting a lot of the time. Bad match.

The country boys would start a feud with the Hardys at Backlash 2007.

Raw Tag Titles: Hardy Boys vs. Lance Cade/Trevor Murdoch

The Hardys are defending. We’re back to co-branded shows here so everyone is here tonight. Matt and Cade get us going. The fans are all behind the Hardys here of course, even though Cade knocks Matt down in the corner. Matt comes back with some hiptosses for both guys before taking Cade down with a headlock. Lawler makes the always stupid statement that they’re the same height on the mat.

Off to Murdoch who is quickly slammed down as well. Jeff comes in to a quick pop and things speed up. The Hardys clear the ring and Jeff hits Poetry In Motion over the top and out to the floor. Back in and Matt hits a middle rope elbow on Murdoch for two. Matt’s bulldog is countered though and the challenges take over. Cade comes in for a powerbomb attempt but gets caught in a Russian legsweep which lets Jeff get the tag.

Jeff cleans house, probably finding Cade’s drugs in the process. He misses a dropkick through the ropes though and crashes to the floor, changing the momentum again. Sitout Rock Bottom gets two for Cade. Murdoch comes in and blocks Jeff’s jawbreaker and hits a neckbreaker for two. A big boot puts Jeff down for two. Cade and Murdoch were pretty talented in the ring, but they were just boring at the end of the day. That and the lack of competition is why they’re not remembered that well at all.

The challengers keep double teaming but it’s Cade that gets caught in the jawbreaker, proving that Murdoch is more of a ring technician than his partner. Murdoch also breaks up the hot tag and hits a suplex for two. Jeff mule kicks Cade down but Murdoch breaks up the tag again. Man when that tag hits the roof is going to come off. Murdoch sets for the jump off the middle rope for the sake of jumping into boots, but he blocks the boots, bringing a smile to my face. Jeff makes the tag almost immediately thereafter and the pop isn’t as great as I was expecting.

Matt also cleans house (probably looking for drugs as well), destroying everything in sight. Cade is sent to the floor but the Twist to Murdoch is countered. Side Effect gets two instead as Cade makes the save. Murdoch hits a standing sunset flip bomb for two on Matt. Trevor’s fireman’s carry is countered into the Twist and Swanton, allowing Matt to get the pin to retain.

Rating: B-. This was formula tag wrestling and it worked pretty well. The Hardy reunion didn’t do anything great but it gave both guys something to do for awhile and brought some credibility back to the belts for about ten seconds. Jeff would go on to bigger things of course, moving into the main event scene by the end of the year while Matt would move into the Smackdown midcard.

Rematch at Judgment Day 2007.

Raw Tag Titles: Hardys vs. Lance Cade/Trevor Murdoch

No longer the Hardy Boys I guess. To give the Smackdown guys something to do they’re calling it. No real reason for this other than face tag team vs. heel tag team. Matt vs. Cade to start us off. Technical stuff so far as Matt takes over for the most part. Apparently Matt is a Smackdown guy despite being a Raw champion. Cade tries a wristlock and Matt BLASTS him with a forearm to counter. That looked great and sounded even better.

Off to Jeff to a BIG pop. Murdoch comes in also and there isn’t exactly a pop but maybe it’s implied? You can tell they’re in a long form match here as the faces have an extended control period to start. Matt gets a double axe off the middle rope for two. Cade comes in and takes over with Murdoch helping also.

And never mind as Jeff comes in for another pop. Slingshot dropkick gets two in the corner on Murdoch. Cade tries to leave and that gets us nowhere. Back to Jeff vs. Murdoch again and Jeff tries a front flip over the ropes. Murdoch steps to the side and Jeff CRASHES with a loud thud. Cade takes over again as Jeff sells like the master that he is. I mean at Victory Road he even managed to sell that he was a competent professional.

Off to the chinlock and Jeff gets beaten up even more. This is more of an extended Raw match which isn’t a bad thing here but just a bit different. Canadian Destroyer/Sunset Bomb by Murdoch gets two as Matt saves. Double tag and it’s off to Cade vs. Matt. After most of the house is cleaned, Cade takes Matt down for a bit. I guess he didn’t get to dust the top shelves. Not that it matters as the Twist of Fate and Swanton keep the belts in North Carolina.

Rating: B-. Not a terrible match here at all as you had an extended Raw match but the fans were certainly into it. Extended Raw matches are fine like here as you had two pretty good teams and therefore you got a good match out of it. What more can you really ask for here anyway? The country boys would get the titles in about two weeks.

One more time with the Hardys challenging at Vengeance 2007.

Raw Tag Titles: Hardys vs. Lance Cade/Trevor Murdoch

This was a reunion that went on for a few months because they had nothing else to do for them. Jeff’s rise to awesomeness would come soon enough. Matt would stay uninteresting. The country boys are the champions here. They took them from the Hardys about three weeks before this. It’s weird to think that only Matt is still with the company now. Dang Matt is over as all all goodness here. And Jeff is even more over.

They dominate early on which leads me to think the champions will retain. The champions try to run away and we have a red carpet here. Dang I didn’t know Murdoch could run that fast. We hit the formula here which is likely the right thing to do. I’ve always wondered why partners start to come in at 2. It’s not like they’re The Flash or something. Murdoch has a bad eye apparently. Is he like Rocky now? Murdoch’s country music gimmick a few years after this really was comically bad.

Sorry for being so random but this just isn’t an interesting match at all so I’m trying to kill the time. Murdoch hooks a LONG half crab to kill even more time. Well to be fair Matt has a bad knee apparently. Jeff gets the hot tag and the crowd is VERY hot here. Jeff beats the tar out of everyone and hits his sitout Gordbuster. Matt Hardy accidently distracts the referee and Jeff gets double teamed into Cade’s sitout spinebuster for the pin to retain.

Rating: D+. Boring match but considering there are so many matches tonight they likely have to hurry. This is a match that shows the issues with both the division and the show though as there is no need for this to be on PPV as it should have been on Raw instead of here. This was the Hardys’ last official tag match together for awhile so there you are.

After leaving WWE, Murdoch would head to TNA for one major match at Hard Justice 2009.

Abyss vs. Jethro Holiday

THIS warranted PPV times. Yes, really. Oh and it’s no DQ/weapons are legal/whatever. Holiday, ever the generic southern/country boy, chops away and gets absolutely nowhere. Abyss claps away like an idiot as we head to the floor. For the second time tonight someone punches something made of metal and Holiday takes over again. Middle rope elbow misses back in as this is already boring.

Abyss finally brings in a chair as Stevie slides in a metal stick or something to Holiday. It’s a baton I think. Abyss fights back with his big man offense like a big boot and backdrop. Let’s clap some more because that’s HARDCORE BABY! Side slam gets two. Holiday gets a chair to Abyss’ balls and a baton shot to the head gets two. More brawling ensues and a chokeslam gets two for Abyss. Holiday gets the Texas standard move in the form of a bulldog for two. Black Hole Slam ends this a second later.

Rating: D. This wasn’t horrible, but it’s Trevor Murdoch vs. Abyss on PPV. Why in the world did they think this was deserving of about 11 minutes total? Boring match for the most part and just kind of there, which is fine if it’s ok but it’s not in this case. Holiday would do nothing for the most part and would be gone in a few months.

We’ll wrap it up with one of Murdoch’s many appearances in Japan for Pro Wrestling Noah. From November 14, 2011.

Trevor Murdoch vs. Yoshihiro Takayama

Takayama is one of two men to hold all three Japanese World Titles. Trevor backs him into the ropes and messes with his hair to start. They slug it out and Trevor actually sells unlike Takayama, who just breathes. We get a test of strength with neither guy getting a real advantage. They head outside with Trevor being whipped hard into the barricade.

Back in and Takayama picks Trevor up….then just drops him to the mat. Trevor gets tied up in a reverse Tree of Woe for some knees to the back as this Takayama is in full control. Murdoch fights back with forearms and Takayama just blankly stares at him. I know Murdoch isn’t the best in the world but at least his head goes back when he gets punched. Takayama just STANDS THERE. It’s not going to kill you to move your head.

Anyway, he takes Trevor back down and steps on his face, only to have Murdoch send him shoulder first into the post. A lariat gets two for Trevor but Takayama gets the same off some belly to belly suplexes. Takayama nails a high angle belly to back for the same and it’s time for more blank staring off forearms smashes. Trevor pops up top for a bulldog and the pin out of nowhere.

Rating: I know Takayama is actually a big deal in Japan and for the life of me I don’t get it. I’ve seen him wrestle a few times now and I can’t stand the guy. That no selling getting hit in the face drives me crazy as it completely takes me out of the match. I mean….MOVE YOUR FREAKING HEAD! The argument is it’s something about intensity or something like that, but good grief it looks stupid.

Trevor Murdoch is what we call a good hand. He was never going to be a top guy but you could get a decent match out of him due to his old school style. His time with Cade wasn’t bad and being able to do that flip piledriver he’d bust out every now and then was rather impressive to see. Murdoch can best be described as a role player and there’s nothing wrong with that.

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Impact Wrestling
Date: November 5, 2014
Location: Sands Bethlehem Events Center, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz

We might be getting close to the end of Impact’s run as there are only a handful of episodes left before their TV show runs out. We keep hearing about various other networks that want to pick TNA up but there’s never anything definitive about them. As for the show tonight, we’re likely setting up Roode vs. Lashley III and finishing the tag team tournament. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Lashley vs. Roode from last week with Roode winning the title.

Angle is in the ring to start the show and says there’s a new World Champion in the house. Roode comes out and talks about how this is all he ever wanted to do since he was a kid. Now he gets to be the best because he’s the World Champion. He’s proud to be here in the ring with the best ever in Kurt Angle and is proud to be our champion.

Cue Lashley with MVP and King for the big showdown. MVP calls Lashley the most dominant champion in TNA history but Roode is just a guy that needed help from Angle to win the title. He keeps talking though and says Lashley only became champion because MVP hurt his knee. MVP wants a shot and Kurt agrees, seeing where this could be going. Roode agrees and Lashley doesn’t look pleased.

Quick video on the tournament final.

Joe and Low Ki say they’ll prove everyone wrong when they work together to win the tournament.

Tag Team Tournament Finals: Samoa Joe/Low Ki vs. Hardys

Winner get a title shot at some point in the future. Jeff and Ki get things going with Hardy taking a kick to the knee. They both start slowly until Ko grabs the arm, only to get nailed in the back. Off to Matt for an arm wringer of his own before Joe comes in for some right hands to pound Matt down in the corner. The non-brothers take over with their strikes until it’s back to Jeff for a front facelock.

Matt comes right back in with the middle rope elbow to the back for two. A double belly to back suplex gets two with Joe making a quick save. Jeff headscissors Ki out of the corner but charges into some boots in the corner. A Shining Wizard misses but Ki kicks Jeff in the back of the head to take over. Back to Joe for the knee drop for two as we take a break.

Back with Jeff nailing the Whisper in the Wind to drop Joe next to him. A double tag brings in Matt and Ki with the Side Effect connecting for two. Another Side Effect gets the same result and a bulldog/clothesline combination takes down both X-Division guys. Ki crotches Matt on the top to break up a moonsault, setting up the top rope Warrior’s Way for two.

Back up and a Twist gets two on Ki as everything breaks down. Joe breaks up Jeff’s Twist and kicks him in the head. The Twist from Matt is countered with the Clutch but Jeff Swantons Matt to break it up. Most people would have just kicked Joe but that’s not how Jeff rolls. Things settle back down and Ki can’t hit the Ki Crusher on Jeff. Back to Matt for Poetry in Motion followed by the Swanton and a moonsault from Matt for the pin at 14:38.

Rating: B-. Good match but it doesn’t hold up that well after the tag team series rocked the house for so many weeks. Also I’m not all that wild on seeing the Hardys again but they’re still good enough in the ring and over with the crowd so it’s not the worst idea in the world. At least we don’t have the potential of champions that hate each other again.

James Storm is with Davey Richards in the back and says he wants an answer in a week.

Roode says MVP suspended him months ago but now he can take care of MVP once and for all. He won’t hide as champion and he’ll prove why he’s TNA’s MVP.

We recap Gunner and Samuel Shaw’s long running story with Brittany catching Shaw’s eye and breaking the team up.

Here are Shaw and Brittany to rip on Gunner and Christy Hemme, who never appreciated Shaw’s artistic genius. Neither of them can ever do the things that she can do, which include licking Shaw’s face. Cue Gunner to say Shaw turned on him for a girl. Crazy attracts crazy though and that’s another problem for Shaw. His biggest problem though is that Shaw wanted to be Gunner instead of just being like him. Gunner calls them creepy again and the fight is on. Brittany saves her new man by jumping on Gunner’s back, allowing Shaw to hit him low. Shaw puts on gloves and chokes Gunner out.

An Indian wrestler named Mahabali Shera is coming to TNA. We get a nice package on his international accomplishments and how sure he is that he belongs on the roster.

We recap the opening segment.

MVP tells Angle that this is all about him (MVP) despite what Angle thinks.

D-Von/Tommy Dreamer vs. Bram/Magnus

Time for the ECW tribute match of the week. The old guys jump the Brits from behind to start and take over early on. They get back to ringside for a baseball slide from Dreamer and a beer shot to Magnus’ head. Back in and Magnus hits D-Von in the knee with his metal rod as the weapons are brought in. Dreamer gets a flashback with a drop toehold onto the chair. A trashcan shot puts Dreamer down again and Bram adds a chair to the back.

The Brits backdrop Dreamer down but D-Von comes back with some chair shots of his own. We get the Tower of Doom out of the corner with Dreamer taking the worst of it but D-Von taking almost nothing at all. Magnus comes back with some kendo stick shots to Dreamer’s back. Tommy fights up and sends Magnus into a trashcan in the corner, setting up a DDT for the pin at 9:40.

Rating: D. GO AWAY TOMMY DREAMER! If you want to go to your “it’s not ECW!” ECW tribute promotion then fine, but stop bringing him around and having him beat World Champions. Dreamer stopped mattering years ago and has been doing a legends tour for what feels like forever. I used to like the guy but man alive how many times can he do the same thing?

Gail Kim wants her title back.

Here’s Spud for a chat. He doesn’t want anyone to feel sorry for him, even though he’s had to do some things that he isn’t proud of. When he won British Boot Camp, he had no friends and nothing to do in TNA. Then he became Dixie Carter’s Chief of Staff and he loved every bit of it.

He would have done anything for the Carters but then his best friend Ethan turned into a complete and utter wanker. Ethan said Spud’s suits make him sick but he isn’t changing for anyone, especially Ethan Carter III. Carter calls himself a 1%er, so Spud is Mr. 99% and has these people behind him. JB talks about Spud growing up on British Boot Camp and says he’s with Spud.

This brings out Ethan and Tyrus with Carter calling everyone in the crowd a loser. The villains get in the ring and Ethan demands an apology from Spud but the Rockstar says no. Tyrus grabs him from behind and Spud apologizes….for Ethan being so worthless. Ethan goes after JB for some reason and slaps him, only to have Spud get in some shots from behind. Eric Young runs in to save Spud from the double teaming.

Knockouts Title: Havok vs. Gail Kim

Gail is defending and has a bad shoulder. The brawl starts in the aisle with Gail getting in some shots, only to have Havok try to ram her shoulder first into the post. Gail comes back with some kicks but Havok just runs her over. The bell hasn’t rung yet as Gail is sent face first into the post. Havok drags her up the ramp and throws Gail off the stage. We get a maniacal laugh as medics check on Gail. No match.

Post break Gail says let’s fight.

Knockouts Title: Havok vs. Gail Kim

Havok sends her shoulder first into the buckle to start and slams Gail down on the arm. Gail’s rollup is blocked but she dropkicks Havok into the corner. They head outside with Havok missing a dive off the apron and landing on the steps. Havok comes right back by sending Kim face first into the steps but the champ breaks up the count at nine.

Back in and Gail hooks on something like the Black Widow, only to be countered into a kind of Samoan drop. Gail gets slammed down but pops back up for a top rope cross body and two more. Eat Defeat is countered into a spinebuster on the arm for another two. The chokeslam is countered into Eat Defeat for two but Gail jumps into the chokeslam to retain the title at 6:35.

Rating: C. The match wasn’t bad but I’m just not interested in Gail Kim anymore. There’s almost nothing left for her to do and it’s not interesting anymore. It didn’t help that the story was almost identical to what they did the first time. Havok is a good monster and whoever gets to slay her is going to be a big star.

Shera is at TNA when Manik comes up to him. Manik is very nice and asks to hear some more about Sheva. I’m not sure where this is going.

Lashley leaves as MVP asks if Lashley is really mad.

TNA World Title: Bobby Roode vs. MVP

Roode is defending of course. A quick suplex gets two on Roode and a clothesline sends him outside. Back in and the crowd is completely behind Roode, only to have MVP take him down with a facebuster. Ballin Elbow and a fisherman’s suplex get two and we hit a crossface chicken wing on the champion.

Bobby fights up and avoids the running boot in the corner, setting up a Roode Bomb attempt. MVP flips out though and avoids a Blockbuster before kicking Bobby in the face for two. The Drive By misses and Bobby gets two off a rollup. Now the running boot connects but the Playmaker is countered into the Roode Bomb for the pin at 6:55.

Rating: D+. Well that happened. This felt like a post show dark match instead of the TV main event with Roode beating him in a hurry and barely being in any real trouble. It’s clear that we’re going to get Lashley vs. Roode III eventually so this was little more than a pit stop for the champ.

Post match Lashley comes in and spears Roode down. He walks past MVP to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. If TNA is about to wrap up, this is the perfect way to start going out: potential to be interesting but tripping up too many times on the way there. The wrestling wasn’t bad tonight, save for the stupid ECW match. That’s another thing TNA has done to death over the years: try to imitate some other company in hopes of generating nostalgia. It works for awhile, but then TNA just can’t let it go and be its own company. The show was good enough tonight but as usual lately, TNA seems to be content sticking with basics instead of trying to do anything special.

Results

Hardys b. Samoa Joe/Low Ki – Moonsault to Low Ki

D-Von/Tommy Dreamer b. Magnus/Bram – DDT to Magnus

Havok b. Gail Kim – Chokeslam

Bobby Roode b. MVP – Roode Bomb